Science Pickle offers a free game to help you hone your skills in questioning and finding patterns in numbers (in series, between pairs, and among triplets). John Pickle asks that anyone attaining Expert level with three or fewer misses should email him a screenshot at picklejohnmr@gmail.com. His website is chock full of information and challenges in questioning, observing, learning, earth systems, and software.

Tumblehome Books, a non-profit STEM book publishing company in greater Boston, is offering a series of free STEM books (shipping included) in its Read-Review-Repeat program. Select a book from their list, read it, review it on Amazon (good, bad, or indifferent), and then repeat with another book on the list.  Here are some of the books:

• Sometimes We Do by Omo Moses
• I Just Keep Wondering by Larry Scheckel
• Engineering Bridges by Pendred Noyce
• ResQ and the Baby Orangutan by Eva Pell
• Remarkable Minds by Pendred Noyce
• Inventors, Makers, Barrier Breakers by Pendred Noyce
• Microplastics and Me by Anna Du

The Newton Schools Foundation has announced that, for a fifth year in a row, an anonymous donor will match up to $25,000 in donations made in March for the Newton Public School’s Calculus Project.  The Calculus Project works in all of Newton’s middle and high schools to have more Hispanic, African American, and low-income students successfully complete calculus in high school, as a path to success in college. Since its start in 2013, the program has increased enrollment by 70%, 200%, and 800% for these groups, respectively. The program provides intensive, small-group summer classes, enrichment activities, and year-round mentoring and tutoring.  The summer program includes instruction in Computer Science, field trips to STEM-related companies, and college campus visits for rising 11th graders with a focus on STEM majors and careers. The program currently includes 149 students in Grades 8-12 and will welcome 30 incoming 8th Graders this summer.

While the NPS operating budget funds part of the program, tax-deductible donations via the NSF are needed for the summer program, tutoring, enrichment activities, and supplies.

The New England Sci-Tech STEM education center (16 Tech Circle, Natick) will host Your Project in Space: Citizen Science Projects for Teens to enable teams of two to four in Grades 7-12 to send their science projects in a high-altitude balloon to the edge of the atmosphere. It’s scheduled for nine Saturdays: Education and building on seven Saturdays, 3:30PM-5PM March 7 to April 25 (but not April 18), then all day for balloon launch on May 2, 9, or 16, then follow-up on May 30. The program is free for paid members of New England Sci-Tech, plus a $55 lab fee for materials.

MIT’s Spring HSSP is a six-week academic program for Grades 7-12, held at MIT on Saturdays, February 29 to April 11 (except March 14), 1PM-4PM.  All online registrations completed by February 20 will be considered equally in the course-assignment lottery, and registrations after that will be taken first-come/first-served until February 26.  The cost is $40 per student (regardless of the number of courses taken) and generous, need-based financial aid is available. Email spring-hssp@mit.edu for more information.  The Spring HSSP course catalog covers many academic and non-academic topics, including these STEM offerings:

• Brainy Bots: Robotics and Probability Lab
• Introduction to Programming with Python
• Design / Build / Fly
• Being Real about Bioengineering
• How to Build Nuclear Weapons
• “Coincidences” in planar geometry
• Introduction to Cryptology
• Win Games with Math: Impartial Game Theory
• The Mathematics of Music
• The Gadget Framework: Which types of changing mazes can simulate each other?
• How the immune system works
• Building a Body
• The Earth, Its Dynamics, and the Environment
• The Science of Food
• Current Topics in Public Health
• Human Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence
• Fundamentals of the CRISPR-Cas9 World
• Introduction to Immunology
• STEM Lecture Series
• A Gentle Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
• Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere, Ocean and Cryosphere
• The Biological Basis of Neurological Disorders
• Sensational Neuroscience: How Your Brain Understands the World
• Crime Scene Chemistry: Forensic Collection and Analysis
• Viruses: The craziest collection of molecules in our time (and in all time)
• Emotional and Artificial Intelligence
• Global Health
• Board Game Design
• Politics for the Modern Era
• Economics for Good: Applying Economics to Real-World Social Challenges

The Cambridge Science Festival is again hosting its Curiosity Challenge for ages 4-15. Submit entries by February 15 at any Cambridge public school or public library branch or by mail. Write an essay or poem, take a picture, or create a drawing about your curiosity and how it prompted you to explore your world. See details here. Winners will be announced at the Cambridge Science Festival, April 16-26.

MIT CodeIt is a free programming class at MIT for middle-school girls and non-binary students, running on Saturdays, 11AM-3PM, from February 29 to April 25. No experience is necessary. Apply by February 7. For more information, see the FAQs then email codeit-exec@mit.edu.