Clark University’s Fall Splash — a one-day, free program offering courses for students in Grades 5-12 — will be held November 13, 10AM-5PM, online this year. Registration opens on October 17, and students should register as soon as possible because classes fill up. The day is free. For more information, email clarkuesp@gmail.com. STEM-related courses in this year’s catalog include:
MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and New England Aquarium will co-host a hybrid event, The Ocean’s Natural Way to Stop Climate Change, on October 20, 6:30PM-7:30PM, at the Aquarium’s Simons Theatre (1 Central Wharf, Boston) and online. This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30PM with exhibits from MIT students and climate scientists in the theatre lobby. Register here for in-person or online attendance.
The New England Sci-Tech (NEST) STEM education center , in conjunction with JP Rocketeers and Sci-Tech Rocketeers, will host an Introduction to Model Rocketry and Demo Launch on October 21, 3:30-5:30PM, at 341 School Street in Acton. It’s for those who have had little or no exposure to model rocketry, or those who have some experience but seek guidance and information about how to progress as a model rocketeer. Weather permitting, they will launch rockets in a variety of sizes and designs. They will discuss design, materials for construction, preparations for launch, and safety. Email David at muse3@comcast.net to RSVP or to get more information.
Local museums are recognizing National Chemistry Week with “Fabulous Fibers: The Chemistry of Fabrics” hands-on activities at these times and locations. Museum admission is required:
The MIT Museum has re-opened in its new Kendall Square location in the Gambrill Center (MIT Building E-28), 314 Main Street in Cambridge. It’s open daily, 10AM-5PM. The Museum includes public meeting spaces, a hands-on Maker Hub, and freshly conceived, interactive exhibits presenting high-level research for those new to science or already experts.
To kick off Massachusetts STEM Week, the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University is inviting the public to a free Open House on October 14, 6PM-8PM with exhibitors, stargazing, hands-on activities, and planetarium shows at 6PM, 6:45PM, and 7:30PM. Celebrate the start of the project that will transform the McAuliffe Center into a modern hub for integrated STEM learning, networking, and community action. (Directions)
Harvard Museums of Science and Culture will celebrate International Archeology Day on October 15, 11AM-3PM at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge). Learn about archeology from graduate students:
This event is included with regular admission to the museum.
The Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University, with Club for the Future and Prime Video, is hosting a free screening of Good Night Oppy on October 27 at AMC Framingham (22 Flutie Pass, Framingham). Doors open at 6PM and film is 7PM-9PM. It’s an inspiring, true story of Opportunity, the rover that was sent to Mars for a 90-day mission but ended up surviving for 15 years. Recommended for ages 14+. Tickets are free. Registration is required (with the code at that link) and confirmed on first-come/first-served basis.
The NASA TechRise Challenge invites teams of students in Grades 6-12 to design experiments to be run in a high-altitude balloon. A TechRise team may have any number of students, and all team members must be from the same school. Each team must have one Team Lead who is a teacher or school employee. Teams must submit their designs by October 24, and the winning teams will be build their designs in 2023. Winners will be announced on January 12. Sixty teams with winning designs will each receive a grant of $1,500 to build their experiments, technical support and office hours with mentors, as well as an assigned spot on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon.
The Broad Discovery Center is a new, free, public, educational space about how researchers at the Broad Institute and elsewhere tackle some of the toughest questions in biomedicine to understand human health and disease, and create new approaches for treatments. It’s located on the first floor of the Broad Institute’s headquarters (415 Main Street in Kendall Square, Cambridge). Exhibits address exhibits psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and rare genetic conditions. You can get a preview of its five galleries during the Cambridge Science Festival, October 3-6. It will open during regular business hours starting October 31 and will be staffed 10AM-3PM.