This summer I tried a new science workshop at the Pasadena Central Library, for tweens ages 9 and up, using the website http://www.curiositymachine.org . This is a great website for librarians, teachers and homeschooling parents, with its collection of projects, how-to videos, and opportunities for children to interact with scientists and get feedback on their projects. Free science classes are definitely in high demand, and even after I split it up into two classes the spots filled up right away! We started each class learning about some science concept and then applying what we learned to a hands-on challenge. We learned about Newton’s laws of motion, tessellations, the aerodynamics of bird flight, and simple machines. We: Shot stomp rockets, Made bird wings that could be flapped hard enough to rotate us around in an office chair, Engineered honeycomb structures strong enough to hold a stack of dictionaries, And designed sharp levers for picking up and breaking e...
