MIT’s Spring HSSP is a six-week academic program for Grades 7-12, held at MIT on Saturdays, February 18 to April 1 (exceptMarch 11), noon to 3PM. All online registrations completed by February 11 will be considered equally in the course-assignment lottery, and registrations after that will be taken first-come/first-served until February 15. The cost is $40 per student (regardless of the number of courses taken) and generous, need-based financial aid is available. Email spring-hssp@mit.edu for more information. The Spring HSSP course catalog covers many academic and non-academic topics, including these STEM offerings:
Fundamentals of Web Development
How to make Android Mobile Apps
Visual Programming
Introduction to Programming Language
Making Games with Gameblox
Search Algorithms:How to get to your destination
From Pizza to High Tech: the Application of Technical Cost Modeling in Product Development Decisions
The History of Science
Relational Databases Before There Were Such Things
Models of Computation
Topology
Introduction to Olympiad Inequalities
Genetics
A Brief Intro to Quantum Mechanics
The Science of Nutrition: A Microscopic to Macroscopic Exploration
Splitting the Atom: An Introduction to Nuclear Science and Engineering
The Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University opens its planetarium for free public presentations, and this month it’s the screening of a full-dome film, Phantom of the Universe: The Search for Dark Matter, on February 10, with two one-hour shows. Each screening will be followed by a discussion and a tribute to the late Vera Rubin, a pioneer in the exploration of dark matter. Unlike other Christa McAuliffe Center presentations, this event is aimed for high-school students and above. Register for either the 5:30PM show or the 6:30PM show for the general public. For future shows, registration opens two weeks prior to each event via links on this page listing upcoming events.
Vecna will host a free Raspberry Pi Jam event on Saturday, February 11, 2-4PM at the new MassRobotics Center (12 Channel St, Suite 502 in the Seaport District, Boston). It’s for students, parents, educators, and hobbyists to learn about Raspberry Pi, a simple computer designed to teach coding and how to build computer systems. Registration is free for individuals and families. MassRobotics is a new non-profit bringing together local talent, startups, and established companies (including Vecna) to promote STEM education. (NOTE: You can sign up here to stay informed about MassRobotics, but ironically, no robots may apply.)
High-school and college students interested in oceanics and marine careers are invited to the free Oceans Symposium and Marine Careers program, sponsored by the Boston Sea Rovers on Friday, March 10 , 9:30AM to 12:30PM at the Rabb Conference Center at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, Boston. Register a group of attendees by emailing George Buckley (gbuckley@fas.harvard.edu, 617-998-8597) by February 15, including leader’s contact information.
The MetroWest STEM Education Network (MSEN) invites all interested parties to take a 5-10 minute online survey of needs in STEM education and workforce development. MSEN is a regional network of schools (at all levels), businesses, and non-profit organizations to address STEM education and workforce needs, under the management of the state Department of Higher Education and the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council.
HMS MEDscience is a nonprofit that educates and inspires high-school students of all backgrounds in STEM fields. The main mission of MEDscience is under-served populations, but it also runs in several suburban and private schools. Started in 2008 at Harvard Medical School, it now reaches over 1,000 students a year in semester-long courses in 15 area high schools as well as in nine one-week summer immersion sessions. MEDscience incorporates hands-on, real-life, field-based experiences with intensive instruction. Its Executive Director is Newton resident Julie Joyal, a nurse with a Master’s in Education who developed MEDscience’s semester-long course and has taught it for several years at Brookline HS.
Applications will be open February 1 – March 31 for students currently in Grades 9-12 in public, private, and suburban schools to attend one of nine one-week summer sessions (June 12 – August 25, except August 1-5). It’s a non-residential program (9AM-4PM) on the Harvard Medical School campus, and tuition is on a sliding scale.
Suzy Drurey, Justin Owumi, and Maya Dennis
Inspired by her own experience in the summer program last year, Newton South HS student Maya Dennis invited HMS MEDscience to present an interactive training session to over 35 students in Aspirations in Medicine, an after-school club that Maya and Senait Efrem started with faculty advisor Suzy Drurey. The session included diagnosis of simulated problems via Q&A with an emergency-room “patient” as well as practicing endotracheal intubation on medical-simulation mannequins. The meeting concluded with Justin Owumi relating his path in health care and his experience in medical school. Justin was a student of Ms. Drurey at the O’Bryant High School in Boston, where she taught at the time. He attended the summer HMS MEDscience program six years ago and is now a student at Tufts Medical School.
Maya’s review of the summer program: “Life-changing, absolutely amazing, never a dull moment. Learned something new every day. Diverse student backgrounds, career-wise and culturally. So many passionate experts to teach us.”
The semester-long MEDscience program offers an engaging way to teach human-body biology and is easily integrated into classes in Anatomy, Physiology, AP Biology, Biology, or Health. There’s a possibility that Newton South may offer this curriculum as a regular class in the future.
And MEDscience is now talking with Newton North HS teacher Jodie Cohen about scheduling a visit for Newton North students to visit MEDscience’s simulation laboratory on the Harvard Medical School campus. Newton North students who have participated in the summer program include Despite Georgiadis, Jake Fallon, and Matt Davis Morin.
Horace Mann Elementary School held its 9th annual Science and Engineering Night last Friday. About 60 students in 40 teams presented projects. Also MIT’s ClubChem presented its “Magic Show” demonstrating “unbelievable but true chemical phenomena.”
Newton South HS’s interdisciplinary STEAM program, DaVinci, is in its second year. Its first cohort, now Juniors, started the year with computer design, building models of wind turbines, and they are now moving into engineering to build on their models. Next year, as Seniors, they will undertake longitudinal, year-long, student-driven projects, for which they will present proposals this spring. Last fall, a new group of Sophomores joined DaVinci and has proven to be highly curious and motivated — thus well suited to the program. Next year’s Newton South Sophomores — and their parents — are encouraged to contact Newton South Science Department head Gerry Gagnon (gerard_gagnon@newton.k12.ma.us) to learn more about the DaVinci Program and explore how it may beneficially fit their academic plans.
Science Club for Girls invites girls in Grades 6-8 to apply for its STEMinistas program, which meets at Pine Manor College in Newton on Saturday afternoons starting February 11. As a club, STEMinistas work together on engineering projects such as analyzing materials, building and promoting a science toy, and creating volcanoes. SCFG (on Facebook) is a nonprofit organization that increases confidence and literacy in STEM for underrepresented girls via free, hands-on learning in out-of-school clubs and interaction with female mentor scientists. For more information, contact Christine Niccoli at cniccoli@scienceclubforgirls.org.
