The Newton Free Library is offering a course, Linux for Teens, on Wednesdays (October 14, 21, 28; November 4, 18) at 7PM in the third-floor Rear Arc. Students in grades 6-12 are welcome to this introduction to the GNU/Linux operating system, covering the UNIX shell, creating a document, networking, email and encryption, operating system components (memory management, the file system, devices, the kernel), etc. The class will also address the “free software” philosophy, privacy and data security concerns, and ways to protect personal data and other sensitive information. Space is limited. Register online.
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High-School Students: Register for Northeastern Splash, Nov. 7 & 14
NEPTUN (a Northeastern University student group) has announced the courses for this fall’s Splash, a free program for high-school students in the Boston area to take mini-classes led by Northeastern undergraduate and graduate students, 10AM-3PM on November 7 and 14. Registration requires setting up a free student account. For more information, contact nu.neptun@gmail.com. Courses include these STEM offerings:
- E110: Solidworks and CAD
- E111: Programming Arduino Circuits
- E119: Electronics: From Gates to Computers
- E122: Intro to Biomedical Engineering
- M108: How to Program a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
- M118: How to Beat Your Friends at Tic-Tac-Toe
- M115: To Infinity and Beyond
- S114: Creating a Killer: Criminal Psychology
- S116: Volcanoes! Earthquakes! Landslides!
- S117: Carbon Snakes! And More Experiments
- S120: Physical Therapy 101
- S105: Real Life Telekinesis & Mind Control!
- S107: Harmful or Fatal if Swallowed: Why Poison Kills
- S121: NRP – Introduction to Neuroscience
HUBweek Offers Many STEM Events This Week
HUBweek is a week-long celebration of art, science, and techology sponsored by The Boston Globe, MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard University. Here are the events we found related to STEM. Pre-registration is required for some. Some are filled, and some have waitlists.
Monday, October 5
- 9AM-Noon: STEM Speed Networking
- 9AM-1:30PM: Four Global Health Threats, Four Global Health Opportunities
- 6PM-8PM: National Manufacturing Day: MADE @ MassChallenge Hardware Startup Showcase
- 7PM-9PM: Art. Science. Learning.
Wednesday, October 7
- 7AM-5:30PM: Systems Thinking for Contemporary Challenges
- 8AM-4PM: Beyond Technology: What is Value-Driven Care and Why Does It Matter?
- 5PM-7PM: The Power & Promise of Precision Medicine
- 5PM-7PM: Harvard Innovation Lab Startup Showcase and Celebration
Thursday, October 8
- 10AM-Noon: Undersea Research, Climate Change & The Future of Science
- 3PM-5PM: Beautiful Brain: Art Meets Anatomy
Friday, October 9
- 1PM-2:30PM: Lessons from Boston: Using Technology to Improve City Services
- 3PM-5:30PM: Dispatches from the Front-lines of Life Sciences
Saturday, October 10
MIT Museum Seminars on Synthetic Biology — On-site or Online, Wednesdays in October, for High-School and Older
The MIT Museum is hosting Re: Making Life, a series of free seminars on synthetic biology, open to the public (high school and older). Events are on Wednesdays, 6PM-7:30PM, at the MIT Museum (MIT’s Building N51, at 265 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge) and also available online (see details).
October 7: Breaking the “SynBio” Barrier
Peter Carr, Senior Scientist, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Jeffrey Way, Senior Staff Scientist, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
October 14: Customizing Nature
Kristala Jones Prather, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, MIT
Ron Weiss, Professor of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT
October 21: Who Needs Rules?
George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Kenneth Oye, Associate Professor of Political Science and Engineering Systems Design, MIT
Register for Northeastern’s Building Bridges Program for High-School Students, Dec. 4
Northeastern University’s Building Bridges program, for high-school students interested in engineering, will take place December 4, 8:30AM-3PM, in the university’s Curry Center Ballroom. It’s an opportunity to explore Northeastern’s engineering program, participate in engineering challenges, and learn about education and career opportunities. Registration is now open, costs $15, and includes breakfast and lunch.
Bright Schools Sleep Competition for Middle-School Students
The National Science Teachers Association and National Sleep Foundation are sponsoring the Bright Schools Competition for teams of two to four students in Grades 6-8. The goal is to explore the correlation between light and sleep using scientific inquiry or engineering design concepts. Each team, under the direction of an adult coach, will conduct research and submit its project (which can be a prototype, an awareness campaign, or a research proposal) by January 29. Registration is free. Lesson plans are provided. Awards will be presented to winning student teams and teachers. For more information, contact brightschoolscompetition@nsta.org.
‘Science on the Street’ Seeks Outreach Volunteers
The Cambridge Science Festival‘s outreach program, Science on the Street, brings STEM educational activities to local schools and events via the help of a team of volunteers. You can register as a scientist, educator, or organization with your own outreach activities or register as a general volunteer (must be 17 years or older, or accompanied by an adult). Upcoming events that need volunteers include:
- STEAM in the Port: October 8 6-8pm , Fletcher-Maynard Academy, Cambridge
- (Science on Saturday) Planets: Pluto and Beyond: October 17 9am-1pm, MIT, Cambridge
- Pumpkin Float: October 17 5:30-7:30pm, Boston Common
- Girl Scouts Geek is Glam: October 17 11:30am-4:30pm, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Dawe Elementary School Science Saturday: November 14 10am-2pm, Stoughton
‘Project Lead the Way’ STEM Conference, Oct. 21
This year’s Massachusetts conference on Project Lead the Way‘s K-12 STEM curriculum will be on October 21, 8AM-2:30PM at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This professional-development conference is open to teachers, administrators, business/workforce development professionals, and other interested parties. Over 70 schools in Massachusetts offer PLTW programs. Register by October 13.
Waitlist for MIT’s Code It! Program for Middle-School Girls, Saturdays
Code It! is a free series of programming classes run by MIT students to encourage middle-school girls with no prior coding experience to explore and pursue computer science. It will run on Saturdays, 12-3PM, October 3 – November 21, at MIT. The registration deadline has passed, and enrollment filled up quickly, but we’ve just learned that those who sign up now will be put on a waitlist for consideration if there’s room.
Sign Up for Newton Library Scratch Club Sessions, Grades 3-6
The Newton Free Library holds monthly club sessions for kids in Grades 3-6 to explore and work with Scratch (a free programming language designed at MIT) to create games, animation and stories. Each session is on a Thursday, 6:30-7:30PM in the Children’s Room on the following dates. Space is limited and fills up quickly, so note the registration dates and register for each event individually:
- October 22: Registration opens October 1
- November 12: Registration opens October 22
- December 17: Registration opens November 26