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Summer science and engineering camps in Cobb County
Wheeler Magnet School in Marietta will host three summer camps for elementary- and middle-school students interested in science and technology.
Science Spectrum Camp will be held June 1-5, 2015. The camp is open to rising 7th-, 8th- and 9th-grade students, and will allow exploration in such areas as robotics, chemistry, electronics and drafting.
Camp GAMES, June 22-26, is for girls entering 4th, 5th and 6th grades. It, too, will include a range of science and engineering topics.
This year, Wheeler has added a third camp, STEM Explorers, also June 22-26, for rising 4th, 5th and 6th grade boys. This is the boys’ counterpart to Camp GAMES.
Wheeler Magnet is a science, technology and math magnet program housed at Wheeler High School.
Urge our senators to support gifted research
Would you give ten minutes to support gifted education?
Here’s how: E-mail our U.S. senators in support of continued funding for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.
Javits Act funding supports research into how gifted students learn, and how we can improve teaching methods.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) have written a letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education, asking that the 2016 budget continue to fund the Javits Act.
Showing support for Javits funding is crucial, because previous budgets have cut or eliminated it. Although Javits funding was as high as $11 million a year in the early 2000s, it dropped to $7.5 million per year later that decade, and was cut out entirely for the years 2010-2013. In 2014, Congress allocated $5 million to Javits, and in the 2015 budget, thanks to the leadership of Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, gifted research was funded at $10 million.
Don’t let Javits funding get slashed or eliminated again in the next budget.
Your letter to our senators can be short and simple. My suggestion:
- Open with the call to action: to sign the Grassley-Casey letter in support of Javits funding.
- State your connection to gifted education. For example, that you have a gifted child, or you teach gifted children.
- Voice your support for research to ensure that gifted children are well served by our schools.
- Restate the call to action.
Send an e-mail to U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson
Send an e-mail to U.S. Senator David Perdue
We need to take action on this by March 26, 2015.
Gifted kids are a minority. They need our advocacy.
Digital art classes in northeast Atlanta
START:CODE is adding digital art and design classes for kids and teens, beginning in April.
Students will learn about composition, layout and color theory, working on tablet-based digital design software. Classes will be taught by a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
START:CODE also is accepting registration for its spring classes in coding and game design, as well as for summer camps.
Public speaking practice for kids and teens
Dogwood Toastmasters is offering a public speaking program this spring to help kids ages 10 to 17 get comfortable presenting their ideas in front of an audience.
The Youth Leadership Program will be held on Saturday mornings from April 18 to June 20, 2015, in northeast Atlanta. The registration deadline for this free class is April 4.
Atlanta Science Festival starts Saturday
Things are about to get real science-y around this town.
The second annual Atlanta Science Festival kicks off this Saturday, March 21, offering a solid week of science-related activities on lots of science topics.
You’ll find the usual suspects of STEM: model rocketry, robotics and forensics, just to name a few. But when’s the last time you had the chance to learn the science of table tennis, or squishy physics (food science)?
The week culminates in the Exploration Expo, a massive free event on Saturday, March 28, at Centennial Olympic Park. Dozens of companies and schools will host hands-on activities geared toward kids and families.
MODA offers summer camps on the science of design
The Museum of Design Atlanta celebrates good design as a marriage of artistry and functionality. Kids in the museum’s campMODA summer camps will experiment with their own design to see how well they can combine ingenuity and engineering.
Topics this summer include LEGO robotics, Minecraft-based design, gadgets and devices, and electronic circuitry. Most camps are for children ages 8 to 12, although children as young as 6 may attend the LEGO robotics camp. MODA offers a separate Design Academy camp for middle-schoolers.
All camps last one week. Some are full-day, others only half-days. Camps are held at the MODA Midtown campus, Georgia Tech, or the Lovett School.
Gifted Atlanta 