MIT just announced today that registration for MIT's popular SPARK Program for 7th and 8th grade students is now open. Want to learn a little more about SPARK? Check out my blog post from October "A SPARK in STEM makes a SPLASH".
This year's SPARK two-day program will be held March 11 & 12th on the MIT Campus. Students select from 200 class offerings, registration for classes is open through February 28th at 11:59pm, after which classes will be assigned through a lottery system. To keep up on STEM Happenings throughout New England follow: STEM Advocates at www.mySTEMresource.com and on Facebook and Twitter @STEMAdvocates Northeastern University kicks off the spring SPLASH season, with classes being held Saturday, March 18 and March 25, 2017. What is SPLASH you ask? SPLASH programs, run by university students, are held at colleges all over the country with the purpose of fostering the love of learning in young students. Students have many classes to choose from and they are on anything and everything. Parents can't select the class, the student chooses what is of interest to them. Northeastern's SPLASH program is for high school students and is offered free of charge, even providing lunch and a t-shirt for attendees. To register, click on the link through Learning U. To see additional New England programs and their program details, see the STUDENT/SPLASH section of our site.
Registration for summer programs offered through the Center for STEM Education are open. All their programs are free of cost, except NUSSP/YSP which has a $100 confirmation fee upon acceptance to the program. NUSSP (Northeastern Summer STEM Program) - For rising 6-8th graders only. Program dates are: May 20 (Sat), June 3 (Sat), June 17 (Sat), June 26-30 (Mon-Fri) YSP (Young Scholars Program) - For rising 12th graders only. June 26 – August 3 GE Girls - For rising 7th/8th grade girls only. July 10-14 IFTP (Imaging the Future of Transportation): For rising 9th/10th graders only. July 17-28 To keep up on STEM Happenings throughout New England follow STEM Advocates at www.mySTEMresource.com and on Facebook and Twitter @STEMAdvocates The media room at the Leominster Public Library exploded with excitement and chatter on Wednesday, February 22, 2017, when Thi Sarkis of the Rhode Island Computer Museum encouraged children to summon the Ender Dragon. Seventeen boys and girls, between the ages of eight and twelve, participated in a free two hour Coding with Minecraft Workshop where they were introduced to coding concepts using JavaScript. Minecraft is a wildly popular sandbox game, where players can create, explore and customize their own virtual worlds using building blocks.
Laptops were provided for use to each participant, many of which had no prior experience with Minecraft or coding. Students sat at tables in groups of four and were able to connect and play together on a secure server. Looking around the room you could see custom built houses, forts, castles, and skyscrapers. The kids learned how to change the weather to make it rain, to build giant rainbows and how to summon lightning bolts with a bow and arrow. The kids didn’t realize they were building on their creativity, collaboration and problem solving skills, they just knew they were having lots of fun. To keep up on STEM Happenings throughout New England follow STEM Advocates at www.mySTEMresource.com and on Facebook and Twitter @STEMAdvocates Yale Splash is one of the larger SPLASH programs in New England. (If you are wondering what SPLASH is, check out my "SPLASHing Into Fall" post from last fall). This year they are making a few changes to the program. First, they will be reserving some spots from each class that will be distributed through a lottery system. Classes tend to fill up fast, so this gives everyone a chance to try to get a spot in a class that is highly desired by the student. The program fee for Yale SPLASH is $20 per student (lunch included).
Secondly, there will be a new parent program which will include lectures from Yale Professors, talks by admissions officers, campus tours and sample SPLASH classes. There will be a fee of $15 for one parent ticket and $25 for two. Don't let financial concerns deter you, almost all SPLASH programs offer the opportunity for need-based financial aid. Yale SPLASH will have financial aid applications available. Yale SPLASH will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2017. Registration will open on March 8, 2017. Check out the dates for other New England SPLASH dates under the Student tab of our website. This Saturday, 1NTERRUPT, will be hosting a free hands-on cyber security program for students throughout Massachusetts, ages 14-22, on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Yesterday, I had the privilege of chatting with Marc Blackmer the founder of 1NTERRUPT, the Worcester based non-profit organization with a passionate all-volunteer team of IT and cyber security professionals and educators. Their goal is to demystify and make cyber security education more accessible. This is the fourth year this event will be held in Worcester, growing from 16 students in the first year to reaching full capacity of 70 students this year. Ryan Canuel, co-founder and CEO, of Petricore Games will be the key note speaker at the event. 1NTERRUPT is not just another day of school, students are introduced to the concepts of cyber security through real-world challenges from the perspective a white-hat hacker. The first part of the day will focus on ethics, web development, network security and hardware. The second part of the day, teams will be forged where students work together in break out sessions and focus on real world problem solving. The students will complete a treasure hunt where they will need to overcome a series of difficult technical hurdles. It is important to remember the quote from Albert Einstein "We can not solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them". Students will work together using offensive techniques in a simulated environment to defeat the bad guys that hacked into the network and take back control. Want to see in more detail what the program is about? Check out the YouTube video from the 2015 event. If you head up the coastline of New Hampshire, in Durham, not far from Portsmouth, you'll find the University of New Hampshire. In the summer, the campus will be buzzing with students attending one of many summer youth camps. They have a wide selection of STEM related camps which we have featured below:
EPIC - a day camp geared for students grades 4-6, is focused on an introduction to programming using Lego Mindstorm robots to solve real world challenges. No prior programming experience required. KEEPERS - a one week, half-day camp, for students entering grades 2-5, offering hands-on engineering challenges. Programs run three separate weeks in July. Marine Programs at Shoals Marine Lab - Earn college credit while taking marine science courses! The two-week Marine Environmental Science courses earn 3 college credits and the one-week Sharks, Skates, and Rays earn students one college credit. Plant Camp - a one week day program exploring plants and their uses. Grades 3-6 Project SMART - a residential three-week program for talented high school students to study advanced topics in science, mathematics and computers. Students receive 4 UNH credits. Scholarships available. TechCamp - in their 12th year, UNH's College of Engineering and Physical Science offers a set of summer STEM programs for students from grades 6 - 12. Engineerista offers two camps for girls entering grades 6 -10 to explore the world of science and engineering. TechSplorers, for boys and girls grades 6 - 8, explores electrical, mechanical, civil, structural and environmental engineering though hands-on activities. TechVenturers, for grades 6 - 10, is for campers who are ready to work on an in-depth project, where they will engage in the engineering design process and problem solving. TechLeaders, for grades 11 & 12, is a two-week program where students will focus on a two-week long engineering project and will build their leadership and entrepreneurial skills. TechCamp offers both commuter and residential options. Registration for most programs begin on March 6, 2017. Scholarships are available. |
AuthorWelcome! I'm Debbi and I'm so glad you're here! As a mom of two boys I found it difficult to find resources on STEM programs for my kids. I spent hours researching which resulted in my kids having some amazing STEM opportunities. I want to share information with other families. I try to focus on free or low-cost events so that opportunities are available to children no matter their family's income level. Archives
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