The Boys and Girls Club of Newton seeks a volunteer who is passionate about fostering skills with youth, to help implement the Mighty Mechanix program this winter and spring. It will require one hour per week on a day of the week to be determined. This program will use LEGO’s We Do 2.0 curriculum, which is designed to engage and motivate elementary students’ interest in learning science and engineering using motorized LEGO models and simple programming. Please reach out to the Club’s Education Director, Cassie Soller (csoller@newtonbgc.com) to express interest or get more information.
Category Archives: Opportunities
High-School Students: Register Now for Boston College Splash, Nov. 4
Boston College will hold BC Splash on Sunday, November 4, 10AM-4PM. Splash is a one-day, student-run program in which undergraduates and graduate students teach mini-courses for students in Grades 7-12. There’s also an optional one-hour session for groups of Splash students to talk with current BC undergraduates. There’s a $5.25 fee for the day, which includes a pizza lunch. Registration is required, is first-come/first-served, and is open now until just before midnight on November 2. For more information, email bcsplash@gmail.com or call at 617-297-7524. STEM-related classes in the course catalog include:
- Fundamentals of Experimental Molecular Biology
- An Introduction to Einstein: The Special and General Theories of Relativity
- Egg Drop!
- Exploring all 2 METERS of your DNA: An Introduction to Genetics and Genomics
- The Big Bad World of Bats!
- Coding in Python: Where to Begin?
Coding Butterfly: New, 4-Step Lesson Plan Starts Early Nov.
Coding Butterfly has developed a four-step lesson plan for introducing kids to coding and moving with them as they grow and progress. Each step consists of weekly lessons over 12 weeks:
- Step 1: Creative Electronics and 3D Print (Micro:bit, Scratch, and TinkerCad).
- Step 2: Robotics and Digital Art
- Step 3: Game Design and Hardware Coding in Python
- Step 4: Microprocessors and Machine Learning
Classes for Step 1 start in early November in Newton, Boston, and Norwood.
Grades 9-12: Registration Open for Northeastern Splash, Nov. 3 & 10
Each fall, NEPTUN (a Northeastern University student group) hosts Splash! (Waterfall), a free program for high-school students to take mini-classes led by Northeastern undergraduate and graduate students. This year it will be held on two consecutive Saturdays, November 3 & 10, 10AM-3:20PM, in Ryder Hall (11 Leon Street, Boston). Registration is first-come/first-served and requires setting up a free student account. Bring your own lunch. For more information, contact nu.neptun@gmail.com. This year’s catalog includes these STEM-related classes:
- Cookie Assembly Line
- Reverse Egg Drop
- Intro to Environmental Engineering
- Create Your Own Website
- Monte Carlo Simulations
- Science Squad: Various Experiments
- Forensics: How to Get Caught Being a (totally not) Russian Spy
- This is Your Brain on Drugs
- How the Brain Smooths Movement
- Psychiatric and Neurological Disorder
- How (not) to Die in a Chemistry Lab
- The Science to Science
Register for Clark University’s Fall Splash, Grades 5-12, Nov. 4
Clark University’s Fall Splash — a one-day, free program offering 29 classes for students in Grades 5-12 — will be held November 4, 10AM-5PM on the Clark campus (950 Main St., Worcester). Students should register as soon as possible because classes fill up. The day is free, with lunch included. For more information, email clarkuesp@gmail.com. STEM-related classes include:
- Imaging Atoms
- Forensics: Find Out What Really Happened
- It’s a Liquid…It’s a Solid…It’s Ooobleck!
- STEM Majors 101
- Clark University Rapid Response: Saving Lives and Taking Names
- The Perfect Storm
New Clubs for Grades 6-8 at Makers’ Corner (at Underwood)
The new Makers’ Corner for Grades 6-8, located at Underwood School, has these new after-school clubs open for registration:
- 3-D Printing Introduction and Designing for Real Life: Tuesdays, 2:00-4:15 PM, October 9, 16, 23, 30, & November 6. Solving real-life design problems with 3-D modeling, 3-D printing, and Tinkercad.
- Stop-Motion Animation: Thursdays, 2:45-4:15 PM, October 11, 18, 25, November 1, & 8. Make a short movie using found or handmade characters and scenery.
- Woodworking Club: Fridays, 2:45-4:15 PM, October 12, 19, 26, November 2 & 9. Make wooden utensils (spoons, spatulas, chopsticks), coasters and other wares.
You-Do-It Workshops: Learn to Solder, Oct. 26 & 27
YouDoIt Electronics — one of the few places left in Boston that caters to electronics hobbyists — will offer one-hour Learn to Solder workshops at four times: October 26 at 10AM or 3:30PM and October 27 at 10AM or 3:30PM. The workshop costs $14.90 and is at the store, on the Newton/Needham border (right off Needham Street near the entrance to Rte 128).
STEM Professionals: Participate in Think Big! at Newton Library, Oct. 27
The Newton Free Library, NewtonSTEM, and the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club will again host Think Big! at the Newton Free Library, this time on Saturday, October 27, 2PM-4:30PM. It’s an opportunity for middle- and high-school students to talk informally (over ice cream from Cabots!) about challenges, satisfactions, and career paths in the wide range of STEM fields. This will be the third iteration, after successful events in November 2015 and March 2018. It will cap Governor Baker’s first STEM week, which aims to raise student interest and awareness in STEM ideas and careers. If you’re a STEM professional — in teaching, research, or commercial/professional work — and you want to inspire and inform the next generation, please email info@newtonSTEM.org or teens@newtonfreelibrary.net.
Registration for students will open on October 1 at 9AM.
Girls Who Code: Register by Oct. 8 …and How to Start (or Join) a Club
The Newton Free Library hosts two sections of the Newton Girls Who Code Club for girls in Grades 6-12. They are very popular, so a lottery will be held for each. Register by October 8 to enter the lottery for Mondays and/or Tuesdays, 7PM-8:30PM. All registrations by that date will be entered into the lottery for each section selected. Also see Boston Tech Mom‘s recent post about how to join (or start) a Girls Who Code Club. For more information, email teens@newtonfreelibrary.net.
Tufts CEEO Fall Design and Engineering Workshops, Grades K-8
Registration will open at 9:30AM on October 3 for Tufts University’s Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) workshops for Grades K-8. Use the links below to register.
After-School Workshops (3:30-5:30PM for one day)
- Animal Hospital: Flamingo Rescue, Grades 4-6, October 22
- Magnetic Levitation Transportation, Grades 3-5, October 29
- Red Rover Red Rover Send Milo Right Over, Grades K-2, November 26
Weekend Workshops (half a Saturday)
- LEGO MINDSTORMS: Robot Helpers, Grades 3-5, October 20, 1-4PM
- Construction Junction, Grades 3-5, October 27, 9AM-12PM
- HGTV: Haunted House Edition, Grades 3-5, October 27, 1-4PM
- LEGO MINDSTORMS: Assistive Robotics, Grades 6-8, November 3, 9AM-12PM
- Fairytale Engineering, Grades K-2, November 3, 1-4PM
- Wonder Women Engineering, Grades K-2, November 10, 1-4PM
- Making Musical Wind-struments, Grades 6-8, November 10, 9AM-12PM
- Wiggle Bot Workshop, Grades 3-5, November 17, 9AM-12PM