EXPLORING YOUR BRAIN | Grades 3-5 | FULL!

THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL

Back by popular demand, our Exploring Your Brain workshops for grades 3-5! It is created and presented by two of our high school student instructors, Sania and Camila, who have great interest in science, engineering and biology and who want to share their knowledge. First-time attendees only.

The purpose of the workshops is to help young people discover and understand basic concepts of the brain’s function and structure through fun and informative presentations and hands-on activities. Learning about the nervous system is an interesting and important topic for this age group so they begin to understand the importance of the brain and how it manages the body. Topics to be included are the structure of the brain, functions of different areas and how they develop, language, personality, creativity, the five senses, memory, muscle control and more.

The workshops will occur 4 consecutive Saturdays beginning on March 11, from 2:30-3:45 pm, in the newly renovated Memorial Hall at the New Milford Public Library, 24 Main Street, New Milford.

This is a multi-week workshop and therefore it is important for all classes to be attended. Please register for this program ONLY if you can commit to attending all 4 classes, excepting, of course, due to illness or other unavoidable causes.

This workshop series is FREE thanks to our generous sponsors:

 

 

 

REGISTER NOW

Date

Mar 11 2023
Expired!

Time

2:30 pm - 3:45 pm

Location

New Milford Public Library
24 Main Street, New Milford CT 06776

We are here to help your kids discover their talents and start applying STEM principles and problem solving in everyday life. This is your chance to help us raise another generation of independent thinkers. DONATE TODAY to help us maintain our classes, provide necessary training to our young mentors, and ensure access to all. Together we help keep this community educated and help our children build a better future for everyone.

 

Introduction to Robotics using LEGO NXT or LEGO EV3

 

Grades 3-6 & 7-12. 1-day workshops, or multi-day classes and week long summer camp, 2 hours/class. In-person only.

Build a robot and learn fundamentals of programming and robotics engineering with LEGO’s programmable NXT or EV3 robotics system of controller, motors, sensors and Mindstorms software. The use of NXT or EV3 system will depend on the student’s age and experience. Students will work in pairs but exceptions may be allowed to work alone. Once students accomplish required tasks and simpler challenges, they can choose from higher level challenges or build a more complex robot of their own design or one provided by the instructors. Depending on availability, students may also be able to use robots to solve FIRST LEGO League competition missions. The final class will include optional robot battles within a 4 foot arena ring where students test mechanical design and programming strategies against each other.

 

Learn about LEGO Mindstorms

Learn more about EV3 and NXT

Tinkercad - Introduction to 3D modeling and 3D printing

 

Grades 3-12 or by permission. 1-day workshops, or 1 to 2 hour sessions in multi-day classes and week long summer camps. In-person or Online.

Tinkercad is a great way for students interested in 3D modeling and design to get a feel for what working in a 3D environment is like! Tinkercad is a free, introductory educational software created by engineering software company Autodesk. Tinkercad runs in your browser so it requires no software download and allows you to create an account and save your projects. Students will learn how to create, dimension, combine, and customize pre-generated and custom drawn geometric shapes to create basic models, parts, and inventions. Tinkercad has many other fun uses like electronics and “brick building.” Tinkercad is also the perfect start for moving up to Autodesk Fusion 360, which is our choice for teaching higher levels of 3D modeling, product design, mechanical design and making prototypes. Each student can choose one suitable model to be printed by Robotics And Beyond and picked up in New Milford or mailed to the home.

 

Requirements:

 

- Computer access (Windows, Mac, or Chromebook all work!)
- Access to Google Chrome (other browsers may work but Chrome is what we base our classes on, so certain aspects may differ on Safari, Firefox, Edge, etc.)
- An Autodesk Tinkercad account (a tutorial for making the account will be sent to parents before classes begin)

 

Learn more about Tinkercad

Tinkercad Wikipedia

Engineering and Design Challenges

 

Grades 3-6. Offered as 1 to 1.5 hour sessions in week long summer camps or after school and weekend workshops. In-person only.

Using basic materials or LEGOs, students will be given a variety of challenges and then design and build solutions for them. The challenges may be structural, functional or simply artistic, but the focus will be on coming up with original ideas, discovery and aesthetics, as well as solving the problem given by the challenge. Working alone, in pairs or as a group, students will be encouraged to let their curiosity and imagination lead them to create innovative designs for each challenge.

 

Introduction to Coding

 

Grades K-8. 1-day workshops, or 1 to 2 hour sessions in multi-day classes and week long summer camp. In-person or Online.

No keyboard skills necessary! We created this topic to help the youngest students learn very basic concepts of coding. Our goal is to provide the basic skills and understanding needed to allow them to begin our coding topics in Scratch, Java and Python. We use non-computer activities to illustrate some concepts. We use the online resources Code.org and Scratch to gain coding skills while playing and creating games. Students will also create accounts that will save their progress and projects, and work on them from anywhere from a computer or a phone or tablet.

 

Learn more about Code.org

Learn more about Scratch

Programming in Scratch: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced

 

Grades 3-9. 1-day workshops, or 1 to 2 hour sessions in multi-day classes and week long summer camps. In-person or Online.

Our "Programming in Scratch" topic serves students who want to begin learning to code and also those wanting to learn fundamentals of game development and animation for games.

 

Beginners (Level 1): No keyboard skills necessary! Scratch is a “drag and drop” programming language developed at MIT. It is free and easy to use with no risk to a home computer as it is done completely online. Scratch is excellent for learning all of the fundamental concepts of programming in any language and suitable for very young as well as older students. Scratch can be used to create very complex programs for games and simulations in many subjects like physics, math, computers, and engineering. Students will learn how to begin and save projects, and create simple programs and games like Maze and Pong. Students will learn how to find interesting projects online, see the actual code, and use and change the code to create their own games or animations.

 

Intermediate and advanced (Level 2): Either as separate workshops or following a beginner-level workshop in Scratch, instructors will share their latest projects and examples from others that use high-level tools and skills. Students may also share their projects and get help as needed as they learn more skills and fundamentals of coding while creating more difficult games and animations. Advanced techniques include gravity, momentum and switches, and custom special effect engines. Advanced coding skills and concepts to be learned include lists, variables, operators, procedures, conditionals, and loops, and learning to debug problems in code.

 

Students must create a Scratch account at home before the class or provide an email address that can be used to create an account during the first class.

 

Learn more about Scratch

Python Level 1: Fundamentals

 

Grades 7-12 or by permission. Summer camps, 1 to 2 hour, multi-day classes, and 1-day workshops. Inquire about online options.

This class begins with an introduction to the four basic concepts common to every language of programming. Students will work through a series of exercises to understand the concepts and begin to learn the Python language syntax and structure. Following this class, students will be ready for more advanced classes in Python or be well prepared to begin learning other programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, C or HTML with Robotics And Beyond, in school or online.

Python is an excellent first language for text-based coding and for learning fundamentals of programming and is also becoming the Language-of-Choice at more and more universities for introducing programming concepts and skills. Python is also very valuable for careers and personal interests. Python is a common language for Linux-based operating systems and software and for Raspberry Pi microcomputers, and even for movies.

 

Requirements:

 

- Some prior coding experience in any language (including Scratch or activities at Code.org) is helpful but not required.

- Some keyboard (typing) ability is important for this class since students will enter and copy lines of code and fix errors using their keyboard.

- Installation of the Python editor on the student’s home computer to allow continued work at home. If needed, help will be provided with loading the software.

 

 

Learn more at the Python website and to download the required software to program.