Tufts University’s Center for Engineering Education and Outreach will host a live webinar — Engineering Design Challenge — for students in Grades K-12 on February 21 at 4PM. Register here.
“Kids will be presented with an engineering design challenge to do at home with whatever materials they have around the house (cardboard, string, tape, paperclips, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, cups, scissors, paper towel rolls, random LEGO bricks, etc). While attendees build, a panel of Tufts undergraduate students and a professional engineer will talk about engineering and their paths to studying engineering.”
Ted Zhu has recently launched Coder Experience School, an “in-person coding school with the goal of promoting Engineering and Software principles to a broader audience.” It offers classes for Grade 6 through Adult in areas such as web application development, interactive 2D games, and practical electronics. All classes are taught in-person at the Newton Marriott (2345 Commonwealth Avenue), in the Lexington Room on Floor 3.
Spring classes start February 26 and meet on Wednesdays after 4PM. To register, send an email to the address on that page.
Ted Zhu describes himself as “a software engineer with a mission to provide true conceptual-based learning to students wanting to learn how to code and how to become an Engineer.” He believes that “steps cannot be skipped in learning, and that deep conceptual understanding of core fundamentals is the key to success in student learning outcomes.”
Penguin Coding School, with locations in Acton, Lexington, and Brooklyn, opened last spring at in Newton Centre, a 1223 Centre Street, next to Tatte. It offers coding and robotics programs for ages 5-18 with afterschool and weekend classes in Lego Robotics, Minecraft, Python, Scratch and Roblox. Applications are open until February 26 for the Winter Semester (through April 7).
Summer full-day sessions are available by the week – “a fun filled week of coding, robotics, 3D printing and wacky science experiments” – from June 24 through August 30. (Use code lovetocode24 for a $100 discount.)
Newton teens may apply to be teaching assistants or instructors, or work on capstone projects with a Penguin Coding mentor.
Science on State Street is Framingham State University’s annual science festival, focusing on themes relating to planet Earth, and the ways that STEM fields support environmental justice, renewable energy, and environmental sustainability. This year it will take place on April 27, noon-3PM at the Christa Mcauliffe Center and O’Connor parking lot at Framingham State University.
The organizers seek to recruit exhibitors in STEM, arts, and cultural sectors to offer “hands-on activities and thought-provoking discussions for all ages, relating directly or indirectly to the festival’s environmental theme.” Potential exhibitors should apply here by March 1. Accepted exhibitors will be provided one table and two chairs, and the event will take place outdoors.
On Saturday, December 16, Newton’s dual-high-school robotics team, the LigerBots hosted the Massachusetts East State Championship FIRST LEGO League (FLL) tournament at Newton North High School along with a STEAM Expo featuring exhibitors such as:
Society of Women engineers, who showed kids how to build an LED light;
The 501st Legion, who all came in their Star Wars costumes and showed off their droids; and
Johnson String Instruments, who demonstrated the math behind music.
STEAM Expo activities
A total of 48 FIRST Lego League (FLL) Competition teams had qualified to compete in this State Championship. After a full day of head-to-head competition, presentations, and STEAM activities, the Goofy Gyros FLL team from Ashland won 1st place, and Newton’s own New England Code Crackers came in 2nd. Newton’s Tie-Dye Chickens won 3rd place in Core Values. Other Newton teams participating in the State Championship included the Cookie Coders and The First Layer. Ligerbots adult mentor Diane Levy was recognized with FLL’s prestigious volunteer award for everything she did to organize the whole event.
Ashland’s Goofy Gyros won 1st place, and Newton’s New England Code Crackers won 2nd.
Honored guests included U.S. Congressman, Jake Auchincloss, who came with his whole family. and the Chief Operating officer of FIRST, Chris Rake.
Many adult volunteers served as facilitators, coaches, and judges for the competition. City Councilor Julia Malakie and Councilor-Elect Rena Getz volunteered as judges, and Councilors Tarik Lucas and John Oliver, along with Councilor-Elect Martha Bixby, also came to check out all the work that LigerBots do to promote and facilitate STEAM education.
Volunteer judges for FLL State Championship
Three Girl Scout Brownie Troops came, earned STEAM patches, and worked on their STEAM TryIts at our Expo. There was much more community participation as visiting FIRST Robotics teams like Record Robotics and the Lobstah Bot helped out and some LigerBots Alumni came back to help out.
Greer Tan Swiston is a volunteer mentor for the LigerBots.
Last week, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced an updated financial strategy to apply 70% of the City’s one-time overlay surplus funds (plus associated interest) as a supplement to the budget for the Newton Public Schools. Today, Newton’s Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Anna Nolin, announced that she will be recommending to the School Committee that, among several “most critical needs of the district” the Superintendent listed, this additional funding should be used in part to:
Reduce high school class sizes in math and science
Restore some high school electives, most critically in science and engineering (based on course request data from both high schools)
Create additional planning time and dedicated math and literacy intervention blocks in the elementary schools where they are needed most
Invest in math and STEM curricula which have not been reviewed or upgraded in well over a decade
The School Committee will here the Superintendent’s recommendations at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 18.
The LigerBots, Newton’s competitive high school robotics team, will host the Massachusetts East State Championship FIRST LEGO League (FLL) tournament at Newton North High School on December 16, along with a STEAM activity expo for children and a robot zoo. The tournament and the expo are free and open to the public. No registration is required for visitors. The tournament runs 9AM-4PM, and the STEAM expo hours are 10AM-3PM.
The STEAM expo provides FLL students, their parents, coaches, and the community with educational, hands-on activities while the competition is going on. LigerBots expect to offer many STEAM activities and demonstrations for kids aged 5 – 14, plus displays of robots made by high school students, and activities provided by local companies and organizations. Please take a look at this Flickr album of a previous event to see what happens at tournament and STEAM expo. For more information, email info@ligerbots.org.
MassBay Community College will hold its biannual Student STEM Expo on Monday, December 11, 1PM-2PM in the cafeteria of its Wellesley Hills campus, as well as virtually from December 11–15. Students will showcase their work in engineering, math, computer science, life sciences, and biotechnology programs for the MassBay community, local STEM professionals, and the general public.
Future City is a four-month civil-engineering program for middle-school students, culminating in an annual design competition in January. This year, it will be January 20, and the theme is Sustainable and Safe Power. The program seeks professional engineers (and others with relevant technical backgrounds) to volunteer as judges to evaluate the student teams’ work. Volunteers can be working professionals, retirees, or college/graduate students with experience in STEM, urban planning, architecture, or related fields. Learn more at EngineerYourFuture.org or email Reed Brockman at newengland@futurecity.org.
