The Discovery Museum (177 Main Street, Acton) will offer free admission on summer Fridays, 4:30PM-8PM. (Treehouse and Discovery Woods close at dusk.) Reservations are required and can be made 10 days in advance. Donations of non-perishable food will be gratefully received for Open Table and the Acton Food Pantry.
The Discovery Museum will also host drop-in sessions of the amazing Caterpillar Lab on July 5-6, 9AM-Noon and 1PM-4PM.
The Blue Hill Observatory and Science Center seeks to raise the remaining $125,000 needed to complete the Mish Michaels Exhibit Hall for Scientific Discovery, planned for completion this fall and dedicated to the memory of the late Mish Michaels — broadcast meteorologist, environmental reporter, scientist, educator, and BHO board member. Here’s a short video introducing the BHO. The Exhibit Hall will serve the 10,000 who visit the BHO annually. You can donate here, and all contributors will be invited to the dedication ceremony.
Empow Studios has opened registration for its popular BUILD after-school STEM program, offered in-person in Newton and Lexington, as well as online. BUILD runs September 6 – December 2 and consists of 90 minutes of STEM classes weekly, 8:1 class sizes, project-based learning, academic advisors, and flexibility to switch among classes. To learn more, you can schedule a free, online, 30-minute BUILD consultation with an Empow academic advisor.
As part of its 40th anniversary celebration, the Discovery Museum (177 Main Street, Acton) will host its first STEM + Movie Night on the Lawn on June 23 (rain date June 24). Admission to the event is free; the museum will be closed except for access to bathrooms. Activities start at 7:30PM and the movie, A Bug’s Life, will start at 8PM. Advance reservations are not required. Upcoming STEM + Movie Nights on the Lawn will be:
The Sci-Tech Amateur Radio Society (STARS) at New England Sci-Tech (16 Tech Circle, Natick) and the Wellesley Amateur Radio Society will both participate in the worldwide Amateur Radio Field Day with their own family-friendly events open to the public on June 25-26.
Newton families with students in ages 4-16 — who are interested in STEM and/or robotics (or think they may be!) — are invited to a free information session about First Lego League (FLL), on Wednesday, June 22, 7:30-8:00PM, hosted by Newton’s high school robotics team, the LigerBots. Parents, guardians, students, and potential mentors can learn about how the FLL season and competitions run, what is required to participate, and what students can gain from the experience. This Info Night will be held at Newton South High School. Sign up here.
FIRST Lego League (FLL) is an annual robotics competition in which teams of 2-10 students build a robot, solve engineering challenges, and learn in a friendly competition. FLL offers different divisions for ages 4-6, 6-10, and 9-16+.
Several students currently on the LigerBots started in robotics by participating in FLL, and the high-school team has been extremely generous in mentoring Newton FLL teams and hosting two major FLL competitions each year. The Info Night speakers will include past FLL participants, ready to share experiences and answer questions. They will provide information on how students can start their own teams — and how adult do not need backgrounds in engineering to be successful FLL coaches! For more information, email cso@ligerbots.com
Students entering Grades 7-12 (plus those who just graduated) are invited to register for MIT’s Summer HSSP, which will run virtually on six Saturdays, 1PM-4PM, July 9 – August 13. Register by June 26 with your preferences for classes to be entered in the lottery for class assignment. The total cost is $40, regardless of the number of classes taken, and generous need-based financial aid is available. The fee is paid after the lottery results are announced, during the period in which remaining seats may be reserved on a first-come/first-served basis. For more information, email summer-hssp@mit.edu. HSSP is run by MIT students, once again Zooming from far and wide to offer 25 courses (plus more to be added later), including these STEM-related ones:
Boston’s Museum of Science will host a free, all-day forum — EmPowered by AI: Should We Engineer a More Sustainable City? — on June 26, 10AM-4PM. The forum will explore how artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to develop sustainable solutions to the climate crisis on cities. Lunch will be provided. No background knowledge of artificial intelligence is required. This program is supported by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Toyota Research Institute, BNY Mellon, and The Boston Foundation.
As part of its Summer Thursdays evening events for ages 18+, Boston’s Museum of Science will host three films from the Woods Hole Film Festival at the museum’s Mugar Omni Theater: