Gifted Atlanta

The Math Circle program at Emory University is now open for registration for spring classes, which will be held online, via Zoom. The program’s coordinators report that they’ve reworked their lessons to adapt them to the online format.

Math Circle is a free enrichment program for middle-school and high-school kids who are fascinated by mathematics and who want to explore math topics beyond what’s taught in the typical classroom. Classes meet twice a month on Saturdays. The Spring 2021 session starts in late January and runs through April.

Just added to the “Enrichment from home” page on GiftedAtlanta.com: Aquarium Online Academy, produced by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.

The Online Academy page links you to a variety of educational programs. For younger kids, there are live programs, some of which include craft activities. For older kids (and adults), there’s an archive of lectures given at the aquarium going back 10 years, and the Aquatic Academy with courses on such topics as sea level rise and extreme weather. You can also find links to the aquarium’s online exhibits and a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos.

Note: If you plan to watch livestream content, bear in mind that the times posted are Pacific time. Add 3 hours to calculate the corresponding time in Atlanta.

If you’ve been following GiftedAtlanta.com for a while, then you know I’m a big fan of citizen science projects as a way for gifted kids to participate in the scientific process. Project FeederWatch is one such effort, relying on amateur birdwatchers throughout North America to report the birds who visit a feeder or other location. The data these citizen scientists collect help ornithologists understand the location and size of bird populations.

A project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, FeederWatch is more involved than other bird counts I’ve written about. Participants should be prepared to tally the birds they observe on two consecutive days a week, during most weeks, ideally from now through early April. For that reason, I’d recommend this for kids who show some interest in birds already. (In contrast, the Great Backyard Bird Count requests that you count for as little as 15 minutes on one day during a specified four-day period. If that sounds more your speed, mark your calendar for next year’s event, scheduled for February 12-15, 2021.)

The counting process is detailed in FeederWatch’s online instructions. Briefly, you’ll select two consecutive days a week that you’ll watch for birds, always in the same location (e.g., your yard). You’ll use a mobile app or paper tally sheet to record the number and species of birds you see. The Cornell Lab has resources to help with species identification, if you need them. You aren’t required to submit a report every single week — in fact, Cornell Lab says if you do only a single, two-day observation, it’s still helpful — but the more weeks you provide a tally, the more useful your data will be.

FeederWatch may be too complex for most elementary school kids to do alone, but with all of us spending more time at home, I think this could be a great activity for parents and kids to do together. Teens should be able to handle the tallying on their own, after some initial training from a parent.

The cost to join FeederWatch is $18. For this fee, you’ll get a poster of common bird species, digital access to Cornell Lab’s quarterly magazine, and a copy of the annual summary report of the FeederWatch results.