Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 16-19
This year’s Great Backyard Bird Count will start on Friday, Feb. 16, and continue through Monday, Feb. 19. This worldwide citizen science project, which started in 1998, is a cooperative effort among the National Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Birds Canada.
To participate, you’ll watch the birds in your back yard, at a local park, or maybe around your school playground for as little as 15 minutes on any of the four days. You can count on more than one day, or watch longer if you want. After counting the birds, you send in your data, either by using an app you download to your phone, or by entering your counts on the eBird website.
Not only can you collect data for these projects, but you can also view the data being collected all over the world — a great opportunity to see scientific research in action.
STEM Gems Summit introduces girls to women in STEM professions
Girls interested in STEM fields can learn from women who have built successful STEM careers at the STEM Gems Summit on March 16, 2024 at Spelman College. This event will feature a panel of women who work in fields such as neuroscience, information technology, biomedical engineering, astrophysics and biotechnology. Featured speakers will talk about the work they do and the journey they took to get to their current positions.
STEM Gems is the brainchild of scientist Stephany Espy, who seeks to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers by connecting them with female mentors.
A merit-based scholarship for high-school tuition
Applications are now open for the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, a merit-based, need-blind scholarship that pays high-school tuition for outstanding students.
Students apply when they are in seventh grade, which means the application is now open for students in the high school graduating class of 2029.
Selections are announced when the students begin eighth grade. During the eighth-grade year, the selected scholars will research and apply to schools that will best suit them, with support from the scholarship team.
Established in 2002, the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship can be used for private schools, boarding schools, parochial schools, homeschool hybrids, early college, and other types of schools. Students who currently attend a private school that continues beyond eighth grade may apply; however, the scholarship administrators will ask that they research and consider other schools besides the one they’re enrolled in.
Applications are due on April 10, 2024. The application requires letters of recommendation and essays, so it’s best to get an early start. A good first step is to watch a recording of an application information session held last month.
Georgia Tech February workshops for grades 2-12
Registration is open for Georgia Tech’s K.I.D.S. Club and STEAM Workshop classes for Saturday, February 17, from 9 a.m. to noon on the Georgia Tech campus.
K.I.D.S. Club is open to students in grades 2 through 5. STEAM Workshops are for students in grades 6 through 12. Workshops cover a variety of topics including oceans, coding, polymers, robotics and biology.
Cost to attend is $65 per student. Need-based scholarships, funded by the Georgia Department of Education, are available to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school. Visit the CEISMC BOOST Scholarship page to learn more about scholarship eligibility and submit an application.
Additional K.I.D.S. Club and STEAM Workshops dates for the spring season are planned for March 16 and April 13, 2024.
Emory Math Circle registering for spring 2024
The Math Circle program at Emory University is now registering for its spring 2024 classes, which will begin at the end of January.
Math Circle is an enrichment program for middle-school and high-school kids who enjoy mathematics and want to explore topics beyond what’s taught in their regular math class at school.
Classes meet twice a month on Saturdays. Students can register for either in person or Zoom-based classes.
You can get more information and register at the Math Circle website.
Emory Math Circle is free to attend, but the program operates with the help of donations, and they suggest a donation of $30 per child for those who can afford to give.
Researchers seeking gifted children who are adopted or in foster care
The following message was posted today in a listserv run by the National Association for Gifted Children. I’ve copied and pasted it here verbatim. The three research leads included their email addresses in their post. I’ve redacted those to prevent their being spammed. If you want to reach out directly to them with questions, use the Contact page here on GiftedAtlanta.com to send me a message and I’ll email you their contact information.
We are currently researching and writing a book about gifted individuals who are adopted or in foster care. We believe you or someone you know may be interested in sharing your story for our upcoming book.
The book is scheduled for release in 2024 through the publisher Gifted Unlimited. We will focus on the overlapping social and emotional issues experienced by individuals who have first-hand knowledge of the challenges of adoption or foster care and of giftedness. The audience for the book is parents, education personnel, teachers, coaches, administrators, and psychologists. In addition to the educational and practical application aspects, the book will be filled with many insights from those who have lived it and we would love to include your perspective.
To our knowledge, no one else has done research with this unique group of people (gifted + adopted/fostered). Needless to say, we are very excited to open up new insights to those who live, teach, and work with this population by sharing the experiences, and unique obstacles this group must overcome.
If you are willing to share your perspective, we can use either a series of questions to which you respond in writing, a video interview via Zoom, or an in-person interview. You may choose to remain anonymous through the use of a pseudonym or can choose to share your name if you would prefer. We would appreciate hearing back from you by January 31, 2024.
If you have questions about the study or would be interested in participating, please go to https://tinyurl.com/GAFQuestionnaire.
Sincerely,
Kathy Green, Adjunct Lecturer in Gifted Education – University of Iowa; Instrumental Music Teacher
Alissa Cress, Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at Purdue University
Mariel Tader, Ph.D., Cornell University
IRB Protocol #: IRB-2023-395
Study Title: Inner Lives of Gifted Adoptees and Foster Youth
Georgia Tech January workshops for grades 2-12
Georgia Tech has opened registration for the first round of K.I.D.S. Club and STEAM Workshop classes for 2024, to be held on Saturday, January 13, from 9 a.m. to noon on the Georgia Tech campus.
K.I.D.S. Club is open to students in grades 2 through 5. STEAM Workshops are for students in grades 6 through 12. Workshops cover a variety of topics including sound, coding, polymers, robotics, evolution and earth science.
Cost to attend is $65 per student. Need-based scholarships, funded by the Georgia Department of Education, are available to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school. Visit the CEISMC BOOST Scholarship page to learn more about scholarship eligibility and submit an application.
Additional K.I.D.S. Club and STEAM Workshops dates for the spring season are February 17, March 16 and April 13, 2024.
American Mathematics Competition coming to Emory next month
Emory University will offer the AMC 8 math competition exam to students in 8th grade or below next month.
The exam, according to the American Mathematics Competition, is “a 40-minute multiple choice exam covering subjects such as counting and probability, estimation, proportional reasoning, elementary geometry including the Pythagorean Theorem, spatial visualization, everyday applications, and reading and interpreting graphs and tables. In addition, some of the later questions may involve linear or quadratic functions and equations, coordinate geometry, and other topics traditionally covered in a beginning algebra course.” The exam is meant to be a fun, friendly competition. Students who score well may earn recognition, but there are no prizes.
Emory will host the exam on Thursday, January 18, in the evening. To register, complete the interest form, and Emory will send you a registration link. There is no fee to take the exam at Emory.
If Emory isn’t a convenient location for you, you can look for other schools hosting the exam by using AMC’s competition locations page. Note that host schools can decide whether to allow children who don’t attend their school to take the exam.
Summer planning starts now
I say the same thing most every December: Can it really be time to make summer plans already?
Indeed, it really can. Summer camps and programs are starting to open registration for summer 2024. Even if you’re not ready to make a decision, you might want to start thinking about the possibilities.
The Summer Programs page on GiftedAtlanta.com lists dozens of options. I’ve organized them by age — one section for elementary- and middle-school, and another for high school. I verified all the links today, so I hope you won’t hit any dead ends.
Programs do make changes from time to time, particularly with ages served or location, so there may be a rare case where the brief description on the Summer Programs page doesn’t match up exactly with the details on a program’s website. If you find any discrepancies, would you please let me know by sending a message through the Contact page?
Also, if you have summer programs to recommend, please let me know. As my kids have gotten older, I haven’t done as much searching for programs as I used to. I’m sure there are new options out there that could be added to the list. Thank you.
Georgia Tech December workshops for grades 2-12
The final round of K.I.D.S. Club and STEAM Workshop classes at Georgia Tech for the fall 2023 season will be held on Saturday, December 9, from 9 a.m. to noon.
K.I.D.S. Club is open to students in grades 2 through 5. STEAM Workshops are for students in grades 6 through 12. Workshops cover a variety of topics including biology, chemistry, computing and engineering.
Cost to attend is $65 per student. Need-based scholarships, funded by the Georgia Department of Education, are available to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school. Visit the CEISMC BOOST Scholarship page to learn more about scholarship eligibility and submit an application.
Gifted Atlanta 