TechGirlz, a nonprofit program of CompTIA, is hosting free, online workshops running in two-hour sessions throughout April for girls in Grades 5-8.
Category Archives: Opportunities
LigerBots Continue Their ‘Awesome Mentorship Project’ Connecting HS Students Online with Grades K-5
The LigerBots’ free mentoring program, the Awesome Mentorship Project (AMP), is now starting a new season, after successes last spring, summer, and fall. AMP is a free, online program that connects high-school mentors with elementary-school students for weekly online meetings to explore a wide variety of subjects from programming to the arts, to grammar and English. In addition to teaching, mentors and mentees can play games, be reading buddies, and do crafts. The AMP began last spring with 82 mentor pairs and expanded in the summer into a virtual summer camp with 150 students and 80 teachers. The LigerBots hope that more students of both age groups will join in this free service. Parents/guardians may register their children here. High-school students interested in becoming mentors may sign up here. For more information, email the LigerBots at cso@ligerbots.com.
The Knowledge Society: Innovation Program, In Person or Online, for Ages 13-18
The Knowledge Society (TKS) is a 10-month innovation mentorship program for ages 13-18. Groups of 30-40 students meet either online or in-person (in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Toronto, or Vancouver) on weekends from September 2021 through June 2022. Under the guidance of TKS directors, students:
- Learn about technologies such as blockchain, genomics, and nanotech;
- Develop skills in problem solving and presenting;
- Interact with mentors in partner companies;
- Conduct in-depth projects; and
- Develop relationships with peers in the program.
There’s an Innovate level for first-time students and an Activate level for returning students. Potential applicants are invited to schedule an online conversation with a current TKS student. The cost is $4,980 for online or $6,560 for in-person, and need-based financial aid is available. Applications are due April 5 and are followed by video interviews for finalists. For more information, see the FAQs, email hello@tks.world or call 855-244 7866.
Museum of Science: Engineering Design Workshop Opens Mar. 22
Boston’s Museum of Science will launch its latest exhibit, Engineering Design Workshop, on March 22. It’s full of the museum’s Design Challenges and hands-on activities in engineering and computer science. NOTE: There’s still time to contribute any amount today for the museum’s Pi Day fundraiser and have your donation matched.
NPS Hiring a Coordinator of K-8 Science and Tech/Engineering
Newton Public Schools is hiring a Coordinator of K-8 Science and Tech/Engineering to lead curriculum and instruction for Grades K-8 across the district.
Sign Up by Mar. 8 to Judge the Western Mass. Virtual Science & Engineering Fair
The Western Massachusetts Science & Engineering Fair will be all virtual this year, and judges are needed to evaluate the video submissions from middle- and high-school teams. Judges will attend an online orientation session on March 10 at 5PM and will review video submissions on their own schedules during the following times: March 14-18 for high-school teams and April 11-15 for middle-school teams. Sign up by March 8 to be a judge for either the high-school or middle-school fair.
McAuliffe Center Offers Paid Summer Internships to College Students
Undergraduate and graduate students may apply by April 15 for one of four paid summer internships for undergraduate or graduate students offered by the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University in the areas of:
- Digital Illustration and Brand Identity
- Multimedia Production
- Science Writing
- Stem Learning Experience Development
Cambridge Science Festival: Entry Proposals Due Tomorrow, Mar. 1
The Cambridge Science Festival will be held virtually this year: 30 Days of Science throughout April. If you have ideas for entries you’d like to offer — hands-on activities, lab tours, videos, etc. — submit them by March 1. CSF is looking for fun, hands-on offerings from a wide range of people, highlighting science from the past year. For more information, email jbill@mit.edu.
Grades 7-8: Register NOW for Virtual MIT Spark, Mar. 13, 20 & 27
This year MIT’s Spark enrichment program for Grades 7-8 will be run virtually over three Saturdays, March 13, 20 & 27 . MIT students run Spark and teach its courses, which may be one-day stand-alone classes or sequences that span multiple Saturdays. Classes will be held each Saturday during 11AM-1PM and 2PM-5PM. The cost is $40 per student regardless of the number of courses taken, and there is generous, need-based financial aid available. Register by March 4 with your course choices to be included in the lottery for course placements. To maximize the number of time blocks in which you have classes, for each time block you should rank at least 3 classes and star at least 6 classes. After the lottery, there will be first-come/first-served registration for remaining spots until March 10. For more information, email spark@mit.edu. Among the 84 classes available are these STEM-related ones:
- Introduction to MIT App Inventor
- Introduction to Proof Logic
- Visual Accessibility with MIT App Inventor
- Spreadsheets are Cool
- How To Quickly Prototype an AI Chip
- Introduction to Computer Programming
- Create Your Own Conversational AI Agents
- Siri, self-driving cars, and COVID: what can (and can’t) AI do for you?
- Random Forests: Introduction to Machine Learning
- Satellite Engineering
- What in the world is plasma?
- Metals & Metallurgists & Manufacturing
- How To Make Mediocre Furniture
- Yeeting Rockets
- Intro to Electronics
- Tessellations of 2D planes & 3D space
- Infinities
- Cellular Automata
- Information and the Redundancy of English
- Fractals!
- Fibonacci Numbers! Featuring Recursion
- Mod Mathematics and Mod Art
- Introduction to Number Theory
- The Science of COVID-19
- Debates in Bioethics
- Getting to the Bottom of Things
- Antiferromagnetism!!
- How Do We Make Energy?
- How to Build a Virus
- Fusion Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Racism
- what is DNA, structure and its function
- mRNA vaccine turning people into mutants? Science behind COVID and vaccine
- Light and Radiation: The Invisible World
- The Origin of Everything: Introduction to Cosmology
- Glow Big or Glow home
- Active Galaxies & Supermassive Black Holes
- Introductory cardiology: how the heart beats and breaks
- Stellar graveyard: black holes, neutron stars and more!
- Physics of the Extreme!
- Introduction to Biostatistics and Epidemiology
- Let’s Talk about the Weather!
- Seedy Dealings: The Rise of Plants
- The Microbiome: How much of your body is you?
- The Science of Happiness
- Science and Economics of Climate Change: Understanding Environmental Successes and Failures
- Women’s Health
- Special Relativity
- Microbiome 101: What’s in your poop?
- Nuclear Fusion: Infinite, Clean Energy?
Science Club for Girls: Spring Clubs Have Started
Last week, Science Club for Girls launched its spring semester of Science Clubs with over 70 mentors guiding more than 250 girls through an 8-week curriculum of exploring Planet Earth, including geology, energy, biomes, and recycling. Three-quarters of these girls are from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM fields by race, family income, or first-generation college bound. Here’s a short video of students from the fall semester talking about their favorite projects and their appreciation for their mentors.