Gifted Atlanta

Last night, we spotted our first lightning bugs of the year, so this seems like an ideal time to plug the Museum of Science Firefly Watch, a citizen scientist program you can do by watching fireflies near you.

Firefly Watch is easy to do with kids. You’re asked to spend 10 minutes, once per week, counting lightning bugs in your yard, or a park, or whatever spot you choose — you just have to be consistent. You’ll record some simple data about weather conditions and the flash patterns you see. Then, you fill out an online report form to submit your observations.

My kids and I have done this, and it’s a great learning project. Not only do you get to be part of collecting research data, but you can also see observations recorded by other citizen scientists all over the country. The collected data helps researchers at the Museum of Science, Tufts University and Fitchburg State College to track how firefly species are faring and how they may be affected by environmental factors like light and pesticides.

Tellus Science Museum presents its annual Rockfest rock and gem show this Saturday and Sunday, June 10 and 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Rockfest features gem, mineral, fossil, and jewelry dealers from across the country, along with activities and workshops. Kids can even bring rocks they’ve collected to have them identified by the experts.

Rockfest attendance is included with general admission to the museum.

Hoping to encourage more girls to consider STEM careers, local engineer Stephanie Espy published STEM Gems, a book highlighting dozens of women who work in the fields of science, math, technology, and engineering.

This summer, Espy is producing the STEM Gems Book Club, a series of webinars featuring women in STEM careers. Webinars will be held every Wednesday in June and July from 1 to 2 p.m.

The webinars are free, but registration is required.

Although the webinar series is targeted to girls, boys are welcome to participate as well.

It’s time again for Exploration Expo, the annual, free event offering hundreds of interactive science activities for children and families.

The 2017 Expo will be Saturday, March 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Centennial Olympic Park. Dozens of companies and schools will offer fun, educational activities.

Exploration Expo is part of the Atlanta Science Festival, a joint effort among Emory University, Georgia Tech, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

The Spivey Hall Children’s Choir will hold auditions for young singers on Saturday, April 29, 2017.

Auditions are open to girls and boys ages 10 to 13. No prior musical experience is necessary. Students selected for the program may remain in the choir until they complete high school.

Founded in 1994 and affiliated with Clayton State University, the Spivey Hall Children’s Choir consists of three groups: the Young Artists Choir, where most new singers are placed; the Children’s Choir, a larger ensemble that includes children through age 18; and the Tour Choir, a traveling group that has performed in locations across America and overseas.

To register for an audition, you can either download a mail-in application or complete an online application. (For the online application, the link takes you to the Spivey Hall ticketing page. Scroll down until you see the item called “2017 Spivey Hall Childrens [sic] Choir Audition Applicat.”)

It’s time again for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, which begins this Friday.

Every year, the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology sponsor the bird count, conducted by bird watchers of all ages across the country. The bird watch helps scientists understand how many birds are in different locations and how bird populations are changing. It’s a project your child can do at home, at school, at a local park, or in any other location. Last year, more than 160,000 birdwatchers in more than 130 countries took part.

To participate, you’ll spend a minimum of 15 minutes observing one location, on one or more days between Feb. 17 and Feb. 20, 2017. Tally how many birds of different varieties you see. Then submit your count through the web site. You can do just 15 minutes on one day and stop, or you can do lots more observations at different times of day and even different locations.

If your gifted child really enjoys birding, they can continue to make observations and submit them for scientific use all year long through eBird, another program of Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The spring session of Gwinnett Alliance for Gifted Education’s Saturday Exploration Program will begin April 15, 2017.

These Saturday morning classes, held at Rock Springs Elementary School in Lawrenceville, are designed for gifted and high-achieving students in grades 2 through 5. Courses for spring 2017 include biology, meteorology, computing, history, and engineering.

Registration deadline is March 31; the deadline to request financial aid is Feb. 28.

Emory Math Circle will host a lunch on January 28, 2017, to expose girls to women who work in STEM-related professions.

The lunch is primarily designed for middle-school-aged girls, although all are welcome to attend. Speakers will include:

• Stephanie Espy, author of the book STEM Gems
• A CDC epidemiologist
• An applied mathematics researcher from Emory University
• An analyst with McKinsey & Co.

The event will take place on the Emory University campus. The program and lunch are free, but advance registration is required.

UGA has opened registration for the next two Duke TIP Scholar Weekend at UGA: Feb. 4-5, and March 18-19, 2017. Students in grades 8 to 11 can spend the weekend on the UGA campus studying an academic topic of their choice.

Classes for the February weekend include topics in engineering, the history and culture of Appalachia, music, psychology, politics, and more. March topics include climate change, entrepreneurship, music journalism, a Rube Goldberg challenge, and — I’d like to know more about this one — something called “Star Wars Mock Trial.”

The weekend program costs $450 for students staying in a hotel on campus, or $400 for students who want to commute to the program each day. Financial aid is available.

To participate, a student must either:

• Be registered with the Duke TIP Talent Search program; or
• Obtain confirmation of gifted status from the Duke TIP headquarters

Registration is open for both weekends now. Popular classes will fill quickly.

This Saturday, January 7, the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America present Mathemati-Con, a day of brain-stretching and entertaining math activities.

Mathemati-Con is best suited for middle-school and high-school students who have an affinity for math.

Highlights of the day include:

• “Weird Ways to Multiply.” There are many unusual ways to multiply numbers. Can you figure out why these unconventional methods work?
• “Mathemagician” Arthur Benjamin
• Local and national math competitions (the competitors have already been selected, but you can watch them battle it out)

Mathemati-Con will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta and Marriott Marquis Atlanta hotels. Admission is free and no advance registration is necessary.