Blue Hill Observatory will offer a free webinar, Solar Eclipse 2024, on March 12 at 6:30PM, about the solar eclipse coming on April 8. The webinar features host Tim Kelley and climate scientist Dr. Tamara Ledley.
The Blue Hill Observatory will also host an in-person Eclipse Viewing Event on April 8 at 2PM. (donation $30, or $20 for students and seniors).
Register here for either or both events.
Run by MIT undergraduate and graduate students, SPARK offers students in Grades 7-10 a variety of short, interesting classes on the MIT campus over one weekend, March 16-17 (10AM-6PM on Saturday, 9AM-6PM on Sunday). The registration lottery is open now through 11:59PM on March 5, and until that deadline all course preferences will be treated equally in the lottery. After that, any remaining seats will be open first-come/first-served. Students may choose from about 100 courses and must register on their own. To fill your schedule, rank your top 3 classes and star at least 10 classes per time block. A $70 fee covers two days of classes and lunch and lots of walk-in activities. Generous financial aid is available. For more information not covered here, email spark@mit.edu. Here are STEM courses offered:
Researchers from MIT, Boston University, and the University of Delaware will host an outreach event on Microrobotics and Synthetic Biology for middle and high school students , in two sessions on March 9. The program is primarily aimed to support and encourage female and underrepresented minority students to explore STEM. Students will learn how concepts of robotics can foster the development of new biological systems and applications.
Prof. Sambeeta Das will introduce the students to microrobotics, and then Dr. Rashmi Mohanty will discuss the importance of microrobotics in biological applications. Finally, students will receive hands-on experience in controlling magnetically driven microrobots and will guide the microrobots in biological systems.
No registration is required. It’s an Open House in two separate sessions: The morning session (10AM-11:30AM) or the afternoon session (1PM-2:30PM). The event will take place at 500 Technology Square (behind Area 4), MIT NE47-189, in Cambridge.
For information about the event, email Rashmi at rashmipm@mit.edu. For general information or building access, call Cammie at 617-733-3623
Each spring, NEPTUN (a Northeastern University student group) hosts Splash!, a free program for students in Grades 8-12 to take fun and informative mini-classes led by Northeastern undergraduate students. This year, Splash! will again be held in-person at Ryder Hall on the Northeastern campus, on March 30, 8:30AM-6:40PM. The $0 cost includes free lunch and a T-shirt. Registration is opens at midnight on March 4 and is first-come/first-served and requires setting up a free student account. For more information, see the FAQs or contact nu.neptun@gmail.com. You can also access online recordings of Digital Splash! courses from 2020. Among the 20 in-person Splash! courses this year are these STEM offerings:
Registration is open Grades 8-12 for Girls STEM Summit-Statewide 2024 on April 7, 8AM-4PM at UMass Lowell. The cost is $75, which includes activities, continental breakfast, lunch, and giveaways. Girls STEM Summit-Statewide 2024 is open to all persons who identify as female, non-binary, or other gender identity or expression. For more information, email rachel@juniortech.org.
Wonderland is a free, 48-hour hackathon, February 23-25, “bringing students from all over the Boston area for a weekend of unhindered creation.” It’s organized by six high-school seniors (including ones from Newton North HS and Newton South HS) under the auspices of nonprofit Hack Club with support from WPS Institute in Newton Centre, which is providing the venue. (Last spring, this team of student organizers ran the Beantown Bash hackathon, also with Hack Club.)
Wonderland is open to high-school students 18 and under. (Older high-school students may email wonderland@hackclub.com to check eligibility.) While drawing mainly from the Greater Boston area, the event also has limited travel stipends available for others to participate from further away.
Wonderland is not a typical hackathon; it doesn’t involve computer hacking, and no coding is required. It’s for both beginners and experienced makers to get together and create. In the words of the organizers, it’s for “any student interested in making projects with their hands. From software, to hardware, and every art project in between, Wonderland is a space for high school students to pursue the unimaginable.”
The organizers describe Wonderland: “Centered around mystery chests, we’re challenging participants to build projects out of what they’re given. How will you combine a Python gif generator and receipt printer? What about a keyboard and RC car? There is no limit to what can be made in Wonderland!”
The event is free and runs from 4PM on Friday to 12PM on Sunday at WPS Institute (160 Herrick Road, Newton Centre). Food and sleeping accommodations are provided. See the parents’ guide.
Students should register here individually. Teams will be created on-site.
Tufts University’s Center for Engineering Education and Outreach will host a live webinar — Engineering Design Challenge — for students in Grades K-12 on February 21 at 4PM. Register here.
“Kids will be presented with an engineering design challenge to do at home with whatever materials they have around the house (cardboard, string, tape, paperclips, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, cups, scissors, paper towel rolls, random LEGO bricks, etc). While attendees build, a panel of Tufts undergraduate students and a professional engineer will talk about engineering and their paths to studying engineering.”
Science on State Street is Framingham State University’s annual science festival, focusing on themes relating to planet Earth, and the ways that STEM fields support environmental justice, renewable energy, and environmental sustainability. This year it will take place on April 27, noon-3PM at the Christa Mcauliffe Center and O’Connor parking lot at Framingham State University.
The organizers seek to recruit exhibitors in STEM, arts, and cultural sectors to offer “hands-on activities and thought-provoking discussions for all ages, relating directly or indirectly to the festival’s environmental theme.” Potential exhibitors should apply here by March 1. Accepted exhibitors will be provided one table and two chairs, and the event will take place outdoors.
The LigerBots, Newton’s competitive high school robotics team, will host the Massachusetts East State Championship FIRST LEGO League (FLL) tournament at Newton North High School on December 16, along with a STEAM activity expo for children and a robot zoo. The tournament and the expo are free and open to the public. No registration is required for visitors. The tournament runs 9AM-4PM, and the STEAM expo hours are 10AM-3PM.
The STEAM expo provides FLL students, their parents, coaches, and the community with educational, hands-on activities while the competition is going on. LigerBots expect to offer many STEAM activities and demonstrations for kids aged 5 – 14, plus displays of robots made by high school students, and activities provided by local companies and organizations. Please take a look at this Flickr album of a previous event to see what happens at tournament and STEAM expo. For more information, email info@ligerbots.org.
MassBay Community College will hold its biannual Student STEM Expo on Monday, December 11, 1PM-2PM in the cafeteria of its Wellesley Hills campus, as well as virtually from December 11–15. Students will showcase their work in engineering, math, computer science, life sciences, and biotechnology programs for the MassBay community, local STEM professionals, and the general public.