Gifted Atlanta

If you have a child who has participated in the Duke TIP 4th-6th Grade Talent Search, you’re eligible to sign up now for any of three Academic Adventures programs at the University of Georgia in January, February, and March 2014.

Academic Adventures students choose a single topic to study during the full-day program on the UGA campus. There are more than a dozen subjects to choose from, including roller coaster physics, geocaching, forensics, sports medicine, the Civil War, storytelling, mini-vet school and a whole lot more.

Registration officially closes 15 days before the date of each session, but popular courses will fill up quickly.

If you haven’t registered your child with Duke TIP, it’s an easy process, and it gives you access to programs like Academic Adventures as well as information about raising gifted children.

This Saturday, November 9, the Fernbank Museum of Natural History will host “Science at Hand Day,” sort of a sampler menu of the sciences.

Visiting organizations, mostly from metro area universities, will offer hands-on activities in a variety of scientific fields, including chemistry, astronomy, ecology, structural engineering and neuroscience.

The activities are included as part of museum admission.

(Note: This event takes place at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, not the Fernbank Science Center. It can be confusing.)

Sparticl, a new web site focused on science and technology, has emerged from beta and is now available for public use.

The site features articles, videos and activities designed to nurture teens’ curiosity in STEM topics at an age when, unfortunately, many kids lose their natural interest in science.

Topics being covered on Sparticl right now include space junk, concussions, the physics of baseball, DNA fingerprinting, tornadoes, enzymes, and the science of chocolate. The site is well organized so visitors can browse the area that interests them most.

Teens can browse the site, comment on the content, even earn points and badges for their participation in the site.

It’s that time of year again: This Saturday, Sept. 28, is the Smithsonian Magazine’s annual Museum Day, offering free admission to dozens of participating museums in Georgia.

Venues in the Atlanta area include the Center for Puppetry Arts, Museum of Design Atlanta, and the Marietta Museum of History. (Sorry, folks, looks like The High Museum opted not to take part this year.)

Three things you need to know:

1) You can’t just show up at the door. You have to register and print out your tickets before you go.

2) There is a limit of two free admissions per household.

3) This is a popular event. Be prepared to stand in line.

Georgia State University is now accepting registrations for the second fall session of Saturday School.

The 2013 Fall B session begins Oct. 26 and runs five consecutive Saturdays. Classes are offered in the mornings and afternoons on the GSU campus. Classes will cover a variety of topics in science, the arts, language and more, from space and weather to poetry and sharks.

Also this fall, Saturday School will offer LEGO Robotics classes, always a popular STEM program.

Saturday School is open to children in kindergarten through 8th grade. The program is geared toward students who have been identified as gifted by their school, but kids who haven’t been formally identified can be granted provisional enrollment for one year.

The registration deadline is Oct. 9. A 10 percent discount will be applied if you register before Sept. 30.

K.I.D.S. Club (Kids Interested in Discovering Science) at Georgia Tech is now accepting registrations for its fall and spring sessions.

This Saturday morning program exposes kids to the fun side of science, math, engineering and technology. It is open to students in 2nd to 12th grades.

Kids in 2nd to 5th grades do a variety of hands-on activities. In past classes, these younger students have built water rockets, rubber band cars, zip lines and high rises, to name a few. Older kids — grades 6 to 12 — are offered an introduction to developing applications for the iPhone without programming. Middle-schoolers also have the option of doing LEGO Robotics.

Fall sessions will be Oct. 26 and Dec. 7, 2013; spring sessions will be Feb. 8 and March 8, 2014. The two fall dates and the two spring dates are identical programs, so you should only sign up for one class per season. All sessions are held from 9 a.m. to noon at Georgia Tech.

This Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, will be the first Public Night of the 2013-14 season at the Georgia Tech Observatory.

The observatory, located at the Howey Physics Building on campus, will be open from 8 to 11 p.m. Visitors can view the moon and Saturn from 8 to 9 p.m., followed by viewing of the Ring Nebula from 9 to 11 p.m.

The viewing is dependent on weather.

More details are available at the astronomy web site.

Georgia Tech will offer additional opportunities for public viewing each month in the fall and spring. For specific dates, download the Public Nights PDF flyer.

Writing is, for the most part, a solitary endeavor. Yet for writers, having a support network of other artists of the written word is vital to honing one’s craft and enduring the difficulties along the creative path.

VerbalEyze is a local non-profit that offers just such support, from one-time workshops, to a “writers cooperative” of professional writers who mentor young writers, to its own independent press, open to submissions from writers ages 13 to 22.

Students who have registered with Duke TIP’s 4th-6th Grade Talent Search are eligible to take part in a one-day program at the University of Georgia this fall.

The Duke TIP Academic Adventures program will be held Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Students in fifth and sixth grades can choose from 10 courses, including aircraft and spacecraft design, pharmacology, sports medicine, game theory, and secret agent scientist.

Registration is open now. Popular courses will fill quickly. The cost of the one-day program is $145, which includes supplies and lunch. Financial aid is available to those who qualify.

Additional sessions of UGA – Duke TIP Academic Adventures will be held in January, February and March of 2014.