Khan Academy is co-sponsoring the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, in which students in ages 13-18 create videos (3 minutes or less) to explain a challenging concept in physics, mathematics, or the life sciences in an engaging, illuminating, and creative way. This year, the videos may also be about the science or math behind the causes, impacts, and potential solutions of the COVID-19 health crisis. Substantial awards are available to the winning student and that student’s teacher and school. Last year’s finalist videos are here. The dealine for entries is June 25.
BU Online Summer Computing Programs for Young Women
Boston University offers these online summer programs in computing for young women, taught by undergraduates majoring in computer science or engineering. Apply by May 15. Tuition is free, but there is a $50 non-refundable registration fee (waived in cases of financial hardship).
- CodeBreakers Online: July 6-31 (weekdays, 10AM-Noon and 1PM-3PM), for female students entering Grades 10-11 in the greater Boston area. Learn about computer security with lessons in programming, cryptography, and network security. Guest speakers will discuss careers.
- AI4ALL: July 27-August 14 (weekdays, 9:30AM-Noon and 1PM-3:30PM), for female students entering Grades 11-12 in Massachusetts. Explore robotics, computer vision, and natural language processing through lectures, team projects, and lectures by guest speakers.
- Artemis Online: July 6-31 (weekdays, 9:30AM-Noon and 1PM-3:30PM), for female students entering Grade 9 in a Boston-area school. Learn about Scratch, AppInventor, HTML, CSS, and Python, with introductions to robotics, cryptography, AI, and circuits. Guest speakers, too.
N.E. Chess School Offers Real-time, Online Chess Classes
The New England Chess School offers real-time, online classes for youth in ages 5-14, in six progressive levels, emphasizing not just the game but life skills. Each one-hour class starts with 15 minutes learning a new concept from certified chess coaches, then 10 minutes class discussion of chess puzzles, followed by 30 minutes of simultaneous chess games between students and teachers. In-person classes will return when the time is right.
MetroWest STEM Education Network: At-Home Resources
The MetroWest STEM Education Network has created a web portal of resources for at-home STEM exploration. It offers this survey to solicit input on other STEM education resources to include. There’s also a STEM Family Survey to help guide the selection of resources to be provided in the future.
MIT: Full STEAM Ahead — Online Learning Resources
In response to the need for at-home learning, MIT has rapidly developed Full STEAM Ahead, a collection of free resources for online teaching and learning for Grades K-12 and life-long learners. Besides curricula for higher education and workforce learning, this site includes these weekly packages of materials for Grades K-12, which are available on-demand starting on the dates shown:
- March 23: Spread of Disease
- March 30: Stepping into Invention Education
- April 6: Exploring and Living in Outer Space
- April 13: Making Music and Sounds
- April 20: Earth Week
- April 27: Investigating Problem Finding and Problem Solving
…as well as these online STEM projects for Grades 4-12:
- Amplifier with Piezo Pickup
- Arduino Garden
- Arduino Particle Meter
- Copper Pipe Glockenspiel
- Kinetic Sculpture
- Light-Up Tiles
Science From Scientists: At-Home STEM Resources & a Challenge
Science from Scientists, which provides in-school STEM enrichment to teach and inspire students in Grades K-8, offers a range of at-home STEM learning activities in Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, Engineering, Earth Science, Life Science, Physics, Scientific Practices, and Technology. At that site you can sign up for email notices of future activities and learn how to enter the monthly STEM At Home Challenge.
Boston Tech Mom: At-Home STEM Activities
Boston Tech Mom — a great resource for all things STEM around Boston — has adapted her monthly post about STEM Events for Kids in Boston to catalog this month a range of At-Home STEM Activities for Kids.
Mass Bay: Online Intro to STEM Programs and Careers, July 16
MassBay Community College in Wellesley has canceled its STEM Sampler Workshops and instead is offering an online interactive session for high-school students, teachers, and administrators to explore MassBay STEM programs and the careers they enable. The session will be at this Zoom link on July 16, 10AM-12:30PM. For more information, contact Valerie Kapilow at vkapilow@massbay.edu.
Free Virtual Museum Tours and Presentations: New England Aquarium, Museum of Science, EcoTarium, Audubon, Harvard, Blue Hill Observatory
For #StayAtHome families, local institutions are offering free online virtual tours and presentations.
- The New England Aquarium is offering a free virtual presentation every day on Facebook at 11AM — as well as online recordings of all previous presentations. These include lectures by National Geographic photographer and Aquarium Explorer-in Residence Brian Skerry every Friday at 11AM.
- Boston’s Museum of Science offers #MOSatHome, with daily interactive sessions, videos, podcasts, family STEM activities, virtual town halls, and more.
- The Ecotarium is offering a free virtual tour of its museum and free online resources.
- The Massachusetts Audubon Society offers free online videos and other resources.
- Harvard Museum of Natural History has online lecture videos, online exhibits about naming species and evolution on islands, as well as many other online exhibitions.
- Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments offers lecture videos, a video introduction and Waywiser to allow online visitors to explore its objects and record.
- Harvard Museums of Science and Culture offer these lecture videos.
- Blue Hill Observatory & Science Center offers online weather webinars for everyone ages 6+ (and additional webinars for younger kids will be offered if there’s sufficient interest). Click on these links to join the online meetings at the appropriate time:
- April 6, 1PM: History of Blue Hill Observatory
- April 8, 1PM: Weather Watching at Great Blue Hill
- April 10, 1PM: The 1927 Flood in Vermont and New England
Innovation Institute: Two Webinars on Viruses and COVID-19, Apr. 14 & 15
The Innovation Institute (Ti2) will present two interactive webinars, free and open to the public, to help students understand the science of viruses and COVID-19 specifically. Registration is required to get the online links to these webinars. Parental discretion is advised. Presenters will be Alex Mitchell (MS, Ti2 Instructor) and Robert Kauffman (MD, PhD, Ti2 Senior Scientist in Residence).
- Ages 9-11: COVID-19: A Science Discussion for Students, April 14, 5PM. Understand the science of viruses, what makes COVID-19 “novel,” and how evolving scientific understanding of the virus helps to inform public health responses. Register here.
- Ages 12+: COVID-19: A Science Discussion for Students, April 15, 5PM. Understand the science of viruses and COVID-19, specifically. Register here.
Ti2 is a non-profit, lab-immersive STEM learning organization for ages 5-17 during the academic year and summer. It offers learning labs in molecular biology, genomics, chemistry, neuroscience, chemistry, computer engineering and more. Its Investigate, Discover & Design series for ages 5-9 often has waitlists.