Gifted Atlanta

If you read this morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, you may have seen an article announcing that Georgia Tech has joined a program that offers free, online college courses. The program is called Coursera, and it has dozens of classes, taught by professors at such schools as Princeton, Rice, Duke and Stanford, among others. More than just online lectures to view, Coursera classes have students interact with one another, ask questions, and take quizzes.

The Coursera consortium offers more than 100 courses. While most of them cover science and technology topics, there are a handful in the humanities, including classes in history, poetry, rhetoric, design and mythology.

Coursera classes do not earn college credits, but if your child is looking for higher-level teaching on a topic they love, an online course could help fill that need.

Rocketry enthusiasts can build and launch model rockets this Saturday, July 21 at Tellus Museum. The “Build and Blast” event is open to kids 8 and up. Cost is $15 for Tellus members, $30 for non-members. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Spaces are limited. Reserve a space by calling (770) 606-5700, ext. 417.

*Note that this event is weather sensitive and will be rescheduled if there is rain or heavy wind.

I just got word from Fernbank Science Center that they’re having a celebration tomorrow (Saturday, June 30), that being the last day that visitors can access Fernbank Forest via the science center. (Without getting into too much background, effective July 1 the forest is becoming a privately held entity that will be separate from the science center and likely will charge an admission fee.)

Free planetarium shows and other activities are planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission, as always, is free.

Here’s something to bring a little science to your Independence Day celebration: This Friday at 7 p.m., Tellus Museum in Cartersville will host a lecture about the chemistry of fireworks. The lecture will be presented by Bob Gossman, who is a senior program manager for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and a former high-school chemistry and physics teacher. The lecture is included in the cost of admission to the museum. The galleries will be open until 9 p.m.

Parents of astronomy enthusiasts, take note: I just received word from the SPACE Club at Georgia Perimeter College that they’ll be hosting a special open house in the observatory on the Dunwoody Campus this Thursday evening. Here is the information as I received it from observatory supervisor David Penly:

SPACE Club invites you to the Dunwoody Observatory this Thursday, June 21, 7:30 to 10:00 pm to celebrate the summer solstice (a day late) and take a look at the Moon and the planet Mercury, which will be in conjunction that evening.

We’ll set up our telescopes before sunset to take a look at the Sun, which has been surprisingly active lately.  We can also see Mercury and the Moon in the daytime sky with our telescopes.  Later, as the sky gets darker we may be able to spot Mercury with our naked eyes.  Since it is always close to the Sun and never up when the sky is dark, it is hard to spot Mercury in the sky, though it is a fairly bright object.  On Thursday however, the proximity of the Moon will help us locate it.

After sunset at 8:51 pm we can also take a look at Saturn and Mars – a regular parade of solar system objects.  So stop by after classes or work and help us celebrate the balmy evenings of summer.  Refreshments will be served.  As always, viewing will be contingent on open skies, but good conversation will not:  bar pouring rain, the observatory will be open.

From the creative minds at Tellus Museum in Cartersville:

There will be an extra “tick” to the clock on June 30 as scientists add a leap second, and Tellus Science Museum is celebrating with a special contest for kids. One lucky child will get to be “Director for a Second,” giving our hardworking executive director a well-earned vacation.

Leap seconds are introduced periodically to keep up with Earth’s slowing down as it spins around its axis. A tiny effect, only 2 milliseconds have been added to the day in the last 188 years. Since the building of the great pyramid of Giza, 4500 years ago, the day has only grown 1/14 of a second longer. 

On Friday, June 29 at noon, Tellus Executive Director Jose Santamaria will take a one second vacation. The winning child will win a free entry into the museum for their family, a planetarium show, a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum, and a special gift bag.

 The contest runs through Thursday, June 21, and is open to children under 14. Entries can be e-mailed to TellusMuseum@gmail.com and must contain the child’s name, the parent’s name, phone number and e-mail address, along with what the child will do with their extra second.

Thanks to my friend, Jamie F., for pointing me to the “Geek Dad Day” article in Wired magazine with ideas for science projects you can do with your kids at home. Sample projects include:

• Build a motorized, drawing “art bot”
• Build a working hovercraft
• Measure the speed of light with chocolate

Just be sure to read the experiments carefully and provide adult supervision as necessary. Doesn’t seem like you’re going to want your middle-schooler building, say, a steam engine solo.

Looking for something to do with the kids when school lets out? Tellus Museum is offering a coupon for $2 off admission through the end of May.

The museum, located just off I-75 in Cartersville, includes a large rock and mineral gallery, a fossil gallery, and interactive exhibits. The museum’s newest exhibit features images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, to be on display through the summer and into fall.

Also new are the two current planetarium shows. “Planetary Thrill Rides” simulates roller coasters on other planets (expressly not recommended for anyone who’s prone to motion sickness); “When Venus Transits the Sun” looks at a celestial phenomenon that will take place June 5.

And if your child loves rocks and minerals, mark your calendar for Rockfest 2012, taking place at Tellus June 9-10.

The coupon is available through the Tellus Facebook page.

This Saturday,  May 19, people from Seattle to Senegal to Sydney will take part in Scratch Day, with events focused on Scratch, a beginner’s computer programming environment developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Locally, Scratch Day will be celebrated at Start:Code Learning Labs in the Toco Hill area of DeKalb County. From 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., guests can experiment with Scratch and see student projects developed using Scratch. Bring a laptop with you to participate in activities.

Georgia Perimeter College welcomes visitors to view the night sky in its Dunwoody campus observatory this Saturday, May 12, from 9 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. Arrive before 10 p.m. for viewing.

Can’t make it this weekend? Not a problem. The observatory holds open house hours on the second Saturday night of every month. The hours vary seasonally, based on when the skies become dark. GPC also allows visitors to use the observatory telescope at other times, by appointment.