The Newton Free Library offers these STEM-related events in March:
Boston Tech Mom (“a parent’s guide to raising a future techie”) is a great resource for all things STEM around Boston — including her monthly posts about STEM Events for Kids in Boston. Here’s her March list of STEM events, with her ever-growing list of Girls Who Code clubs.
Boston Tech Mom is sponsoring the first Boston STEM Fair on March 12, 1-4PM at the Innovation Space in the Arsenal Project Shopping Center (across from Dunkin Donuts) in Watertown. It’s free for parents and kids (Grades K-12) who want to learn about opportunities in STEM including summer camps, after-school programs, college planning, and tech entrepreneurship. Exhibitors will discuss robotics, engineering, coding, 3D printing, science, web development, and more. There will also be raffles for prizes.
The New England section of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers invites everyone on a two-hour hike on March 18 through Purgatory Chasm State Reservation to learn about the geology of this glacially carved area. Meet at 10AM in the parking lot (198 Purgatory Road, Sutton, MA). For more information, contact Lori Weeden at Lori_Weeden@uml.edu.
Engineering is Elementary will host a two-day workshop for elementary-school teachers — Marvelous Machines: Making Work Easier — at the Museum of Science, March 9-10, focusing on integrating engineering and science in the classroom.
Simple machines are devices with few or no moving parts that make work easier. Students are introduced to the six types of simple machines — the wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, and pulley — in the context of the construction of a pyramid, gaining high-level insights into tools that have been used since ancient times and are still in use today. In two hands-on activities, students begin their own pyramid design by performing materials calculations, and evaluating and selecting a construction site. The six simple machines are examined in more depth in subsequent lessons in this unit.
This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the latest machinery, using the Vision System and other technology for the learning process.
Engineering Connection
Why do engineers care about simple machines? How do such devices help engineers improve society? Simple machines are important and common in our world today in the form of everyday devices (crowbars, wheelbarrows, highway ramps, etc.) that individuals, and especially engineers, use on a daily basis. The same physical principles and mechanical advantages of simple machines used by ancient engineers to build pyramids are employed by today’s engineers to construct modern structures such as houses, bridges and skyscrapers. Simple machines give engineers added tools for solving everyday challenges.
The cost is $200. Register here.
Empow Studios in Lexington offers its Coding Club for Grades 2-8, starting March 5. Kids start learning with Scratch and then move on to Java for games, animations, and applications. It meets Sundays, 1:30-3PM, at a cost of $80 per month. All equipment is provided. Register here.
Southborough is a bit far afield of Newton, but perhaps you work near there or know someone else who would like to volunteer as an instructor in the hugely popular Girls Who Code after-school program for girls in Grades 6-12. Southborough is starting a GWC club, and knowing of Newton’s success, they have asked if we know of anyone who wants to make an impact volunteering two hours a week over the school year, using the GWC curriculum. It’s best if you’re proficient in programming languages, with intermediate knowledge of data structures and algorithms. Perhaps you’re a current or former software developer or a current student in computer science. The most successful volunteer GWC instructors have experience teaching or working with youth — as teaching assistants, camp counselors, or tutors — although this is not required. For more information, contact Nital Gandhi at nitalgandhi@hotmail.com.
Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center will host an Under the Sea Mosaic program for Grades 7-12 over the Spring school vacation (April 18-21), combining 3 hours of art and 2 hours of marine science each day. It will take place 9AM-3PM daily at the Marine Science Center in Nahant, and shuttle buses will be available daily to and from Ruggles, Wonderland, and Lynn/Central Square MTBA stations. The cost of $280 (plus $40 for those who take the shuttle) per person includes snacks but not lunch. Applications are due April 7, and spaces will be filled on a rolling basis, so apply now. For more information, contact Val Perini at 781-581-7370 x373 or v.perini@northeastern.edu.
Two weeks ago, we wrote that Tufts University will run a one-week summer course (August 7-11) to train mathematicians to be expert witnesses for court cases in electoral redistricting and gerrymandering. This week, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a profile of Moon Duchin, the Tufts mathematics professor behind this project. Prof. Duchin is also the director of Tuft’s Science, Technology and Society program. The first three days of the summer program will be open to the public and available online.
Elms College in Chicopee is offering NSF-funded STEM scholarships for transfer students entering in the Fall of 2017 to major in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Computer Information Technology. Scholarships range $3,800 to $10,000 per year for two years until graduation. Apply online with a one-page essay by March 1. For more information, email admissions@elms.edu.