The Cambridge Science Festival will be held virtually this year: 30 Days of Science, April 1-30. Underlying the festival’s many events is the #30DaysofScience Challenge, in which participants sign up and dedicate at least a few minutes each day — either to respond to daily emailed prompts or to pursue their own inquiries — and share their discoveries and questions with that hashtag.
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Wellesley Education Foundation: See Yourself in STEM, Events in April
The Wellesley Education Foundation is sponsoring See Yourself in STEM throughout the month of April, and all events are open to the public beyond Wellesley. Register at the links below. The events are free, and you are invited to become a sponsor or donor.
- Panel & Robotics Demo by Wellesley FRC Team Ultraviolet: April 9, 4PM
- Panel: Wellesley HS Recent Graduates in STEM Careers: April 13, 7:30PM
- A Journey into Pooled Testing: What Happens to My Saliva Sample?: April 26, 6:30PM
There’s also a STEM scavenger hunt for elementary students and two hackathons hosted by Wellesley-based coding companies: iCode (April 24) and Code Ninjas (April 25), each with various age groupings and “office hours” in the week before the event to provide assistance.
Register Now for Virtual Northeastern Splash!, Apr. 3
Each spring, NEPTUN (a Northeastern University student group) hosts Splash!, a free program for students in Grades 9-12 to take fun and informative mini-classes led by Northeastern undergraduate students. This year, Splash! will be free and held virtually on April 3, 1PM-5PM. Registration is now open and is first-come/first-served and requires setting up a free student account. Separately, you can check out the Digital Splash! online offerings created from the content of previous Splash! courses. For more information, contact nu.neptun@gmail.com. Among the Splash! courses this year are these STEM offerings:
- It’s a Gut Feeling: Engineering and Hacking the Bacteria in Your Body
- Think like an Engineer
- The Limits of Infinity
- This is Your Brain on Drugs: Neuropsychopharmacology
- What really is sleep?
- Psychiatric and Neurological Disorder
- Science at Home Mashup II
- I’m Not a Morning Person: Chronobiology
- Epigenetics: Why everything you know about genetics is wrong
- Antibiotics and Vaccines
- The Cat Conspiracy and Other Mind-Bending Parasites
- What your High School teachers never told you about Chemistry
Habitat Groups to Host Inter-Generational Climate Cafe, Apr. 3
The Habitat Environmental Action Team (HEAT) — a youth-led group dedicated to climate action in the cities and towns surrounding Habitat Education Center and Wildlie Sanctuary in Belmont — and the Habitat Inter-generational Program (HIP) will host a free, online Inter-Generational Climate Cafe on April 3, 12PM – 1:30PM. People of ages 10+ who are concerned about climate change are invited to discuss climate action initiatives from 1970 to the present. Register here.
Newton Free Library: Little Lab Coats – Science of Cooking, Ages 6-9, Apr. 6
The Newton Free Library will offer a virtual session of its Little Lab Coats series, on the Science of Cooking, on April 6, 6PM-7PM for ages 6-9. Registration is required and is available at that link from March 29 at 9AM to April 4 at 6PM.
Newton Conservators Webinar: Learn About Vernal Pools, Apr. 7
The Newton Conservators‘ first webinar of the spring season, Learn About Vernal Pools, will be held on April 7 at 7PM. Mass Audubon teacher/naturalist and Newton Conservators board member Barbara Bates will talk about how these season pools form and the varieties of life they support, using as examples two vernal pools in Newton — Bare Pond and Dolan Pond. Register before 3PM the day before.
Framingham State: Science on State Street, Planet Earth Edition, Apr. 12-24
Framingham State University’s Christa McAuliffe Center will hold this year’s festival, Science on State Street — Planet Earth Edition April 12-24. Events will include hands-on activities for all ages as well as discussions with scholars and climate activists for young adults and older. Most events will be online/virtual but some will be outdoor and in-person following Massachusetts COVID-19 Guidelines. The keynote address — Global Warming Demystified — will be on Zoom on April 22, 5:30-6:30PM. Registration is required for most events. For more information, email cmc@framingham.edu.
Harvard Museums Online: Body Builders–How Animals Regenerate New Parts, Apr. 14
Harvard Museums of Science and Culture will present a webinar, Body Builders: How Animals Regenerate New Parts, on April 14, 6PM-7PM. Registration is free, and optional donations are requested.
BU Offers Virtual Summer Computer-Science Programs for Young Women, Grades 8-11
Boston University’s Learning Resource Network (for K-12 STEM) will offer three virtual programs in computer science this summer for young women in Massachusetts. Each program runs 9:30AM-Noon and 1PM-3:30PM, Monday-Friday. There is no tuition but there is a $100 registration fee assessed on those who are accepted. Apply at the links below by May 1.
- Codebreakers: July 5-30, for those currently in Grades 9-10 and interested in cybersecurity (including programming, cryptography, and network security). Students will learn to code in Python and will hear from guest speakers about careers in cybersecurity.
- AI4ALL: July 26-August 13, for those currently in Grades 10-11 and interested in Artificial Intelligence (including robotics, computer vision, and natural language processing). There will be lectures, group projects, and presentations from guest speakers, and students will complete a small group research project and make an online presentation.
- Artemis: July 5-30, for those currently in Grade 8 and interested in the creative thinking and problem-solving that are central to computer science. Students will learn to code in Python, build websites, program microbits, and learn about search and sort algorithms, cryptography, and artificial intelligence.
STEM Activities at Boys & Girls Club Summer Camp
The John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club will host in-person summer camps in two-week sessions following Massachusetts COVID protocols with a variety of themes and activities, including coding, animation, and STEM activities like solar energy robots. Register here.