Project WILD workshops train teachers, scout leaders, community leaders, parents, and others in helping PreK-12 students understand conservation and the environment. Project WILD is sponsored by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and is nationally recognized. There is still space available for a workshop on Saturday, December 5, 9AM-3:30PM, at the Millers River Environmental Center (100 Main Street in Athol). The cost is $15 (details). Register by the extended deadline, November 30, by contacting Dawn Marvin Ward at dmward@crocker.com or (413) 367-9562.
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Sign Up Now for Harvard SEAS Holiday Lecture, Dec. 5
Each year the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences offers a family-oriented Holiday Lecture — an engaging and fun forum for ages 7 and up, modeled after the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures of 100 years ago in London. This year’s Holiday Lecture — A Grain of Salt: Isn’t It Ionic? — will be held 10AM-11AM on Saturday, December 5 in Lecture Hall B of Harvard’s Science Center (map). It’s free and open to the public. Pre-register online now for guaranteed seating. See videos of previous years’ lectures here.
Newton Free Library: Upcoming STEM Events
The Newton Free Library has a wide range of STEM events in December. For more information and registration information, see the Library’s calendar of events. (This list does not include the following ongoing series of weekly classes: Girls Who Code – Mondays, Girls Who Code – Fridays, Russian Math.)
- December 2: Introduction to Linux for Teens
- December 3: STEAM Lecture Series: Swords Through the Ages
- December 9: Linux for Teens
- December 17: Scratch Club (Grades 3-6)
- December 28: ScienceTellers: Dragons and Dreams
- December 29: littleBits Do-It-Yourself Club
- December 30: Hexbugs Robotics (ages 5+)
BostonTechMom’s List of STEM Activities in December
Each month, BostonTechMom‘s blog provides a chronological list of STEM events in the Boston area. Check out the list for December.
Start an Hour-of-Code Event, Dec. 7-13
Hour of Code is a global movement by Code.org to get everyone learning the basics of computer programming. The organization facilitates one-hour introductions to computer science and offers tutorials to enable anyone to start coding. The aim is to get tens of millions of people worldwide to devote an hour to learning how to code during the week of December 7-13, which coincides with Computer Science Education Week. Anyone can sign up to create and run an Hour of Code event, in school or outside of school. In Newton, school events have been set up at Angier, Burr, CATS Academy, Chestnut Hill School, Countryside, Horace Mann, Oak Hill, Peirce, Memorial-Spaulding, Mount Alvernia HS, Newton Country Day, Newton North HS, Solomon Schechter, Williams, and Zervas. The free, online educational resource, Khan Academy — a free, online educational resource — offers multi-hour, self-paced tutorials and has created one-hour versions for Hour of Code.
Olin College Fall Exposition, Dec. 21
Twice a year, Olin College of Engineering in Needham hosts a free, end-of-semester exposition of student work. The public is very much encouraged to attend. The Fall 2015 Exposition on December 21 runs 10AM-3:30PM with poster sessions, presentations, performances, and lunch. The list of presentations and performances will be available on the expo site the week before the event, but you can see last spring’s list here. Register by December 18. For information, email expo@olin.edu.
MECSP Computer-Science Professional Development
The Massachusetts Exploring Computer Science Partnership (MECSP), supported by the National Science Foundation, facilitates the introduction of computer science to high-school students through the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum. ECS consists of 6 six-week units for teachers combining high-school introductory computer science with professional development. Teachers meet for one week in the summer at Framingham State University, followed by four Saturday sessions and monthly teacher cohort meetings. Newton South HS is one of the participating schools. MECSP seeks additional schools in Metrowest Boston to participate. Contact Evan Pagliuca, Metrowest MECSP Hub Director, at epagliuca@framingham.edu.
LigerBots Host a FIRST Lego League Qualifying Tournament
Yesterday at Newton North HS, the Newton LigerBots hosted a qualifying tournament for 28 FIRST Lego League (FLL) teams, including five FLL teams from Newton: The Angiernauts, the Innovators, the Newtronics, the Snowy Owls, and the Tacocats. The event included robot games, the teams’ presentations of their research projects on this year’s FLL theme (Trash Trek), and a mini-Maker’s Faire featuring Einstein’s Workshop, iRobot, the Newton North HS Greengineers, the Russian School of Math, Rise Robotics, Robosail, JumpSmart, (a new STEM venture by students from Babson and Olin Colleges), a 3D printer demonstration, and others. Outside, there was a working demonstration and explanation of blacksmithing by Prospect Hill Forge. Congratulations to all participants, but especially to the LigerBots for their community contribution of careful planning, promotion, and execution of a successful event.
MIT Edgerton’s ‘Science on Saturday’ for Grades K-12, Dec. 5: Nuclear Science and Engineering
MIT’s Edgerton Center holds free Science on Saturday programs five times a year for elementary, middle, and high school students — as well as their parents and teachers. On December 5, the program will be focused on Nuclear Science and Engineering. Kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. The program includes a one-hour presentation at 10AM followed by hands-on activities at 11AM. No pre-registration is necessary but seating is limited and first-come, first-seated. It’s held in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge.
NPS Calculus Project Receives Belmont Savings Bank Grant
The Newton Schools Foundation received a $4,000 grant from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation to support The Calculus Project, an NPS program to narrow achievement gaps in mathematics by increasing the