29 Days til #cambscifest 2013

Did you know that today is Pi Day?  3/14!

So, what exactly is π? Well, it's not this:

Though it does look darn tasty.

π is a mathematical constant of the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

So, happy Pi Day!

With just a few weeks before the 2013 Festival, it's time to start our #eventcountdown.

The event of the day...

A Creative Collective: The Computer Clubhouse as Design Studio
The Computer Clubhouse at the Museum of Science, Boston
Saturday, April 13th 1-4pm
Recommended for ages 10-18

The Computer Clubhouse provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people work with adult mentors to explore their ideas, develop new skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology. With high-tech tools at their fingertips, youth can do almost anything they imagine: write and record music, make movies, build robots, produce digital artwork, design websites, and more! Together with Clubhouse Mentors, who serve as role models to help foster a creative atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, youth can spend days, weeks or months on projects that inspire them. Now in its 20th year of changing lives, this Flagship Computer Clubhouse has inspired an international network of Clubhouses with 100 locations in 20 countries worldwide. The Clubhouse is open after school on weekdays and Saturdays, and is free of charge to young people (ages 10-18) from Boston and surrounding areas. We’re excited to invite Cambridge Science Festival attendees to drop by the Clubhouse to join in the fun, and perhaps walk away with a special project they’ve created!

http://www.computerclubhouse.org/

Cambridge Science Festival 2013!

Can you believe we're a month out from the 2013 Cambridge Science Festival?

Woohoo!

  Now, take a deep breath here before reading on.  I'm about to drop a lot of information in your laps.  Don't run away and don't get overwhelmed.  (It's worth it, I promise!)

We get a lot of questions at the festival like, "My kids are 5 and 8.  What events are good for them?" or "What should I send our 15 year old daughter to?" or "I'm an adult that never went to science fairs even as a kid. What should I look at?"

So, I've gone through our Event Index, and selected some particularly interesting events for groups: Families+ (which means events appropriate for small children accompanied by their parents up through teens and adults), Teens+ (appropriate for teens and adults), and Adults (um... yea).

Note: our lovely K-12 Coordinator, Peg LeGendre, put together a larger listing of festival events for families, students, and teachers. Available here as pdf.

So here we go:


Families+ (AKA events for everyone)
 Science Carnival and ROBOT ZOO
Artisan’s Asylum and DIY Festival
Visual-Eyes Art: The Visual Ecology Exhibit
NuVu Open Studio & Exhibit
City Smart:How Do You Get Around Town?
Play Day at the MIT Museum
Human DNA Strand
Northeastern University STEM Exploration
Science of Food
National Astronomy Day
Discovering Physics!
Party for the Planet at Franklin Park Zoo
Battlebots Competition

Teens+
Yuri’s Night with Student Astronomers of Harvard-Radcliffe!
A Creative Collective: The Computer Clubhouse as Design Studio
Wish Upon a Stellated Dodecahedron
Boston-Cambridge Bridge Tours
Science and Poetry
Science of the Brain
MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team – Racing Solar Cars!
Medical Simulation @ MGH
Science Trivia Challenge
Sudden Death: A Tale of Cell Suicide
Trimpin: The Sound of Invention Film Screening and Q&A
Science and Comics
Walk on the Wild Side
Living in the Future: Pop Culture Meets Today’s Technology
Splash@CSF
Operation Epsilon

Adults
Big Ideas for Busy People
Science and Islam
Broader Impacts: How to Talk About Your Work with the Media
Science of Nutrition and Food
Climate Science: The Conversation
Alternative Careers in Science: A Speed Networking Event
Genetic Genealogy: How Much Can Your DNA Tell You?
You’re the Expert
Story Collider
Science Author Salon: Emily Anthes Author of Frankenstein’s Cat
What High School Science Should Have Been
Carbonic Maceration Wine Bar (and Demo)
Science Crawl
Perfect Model: The Past, Present, and Future of Prediction
Soapbox: The Political Life of Cheese
Gluten,Dairy, and Nuts, Oh My! Why Are Food Allergies on the Rise?
Passion of the Cosmos: Scientists on Evolution, Cosmology, and Religion: Open Forum

Also, shout out to college students (and those who know or work with college students): 48-Hour Design and Build Challenge: Battlebots (note: costs to change)

The sheer number and variety of events may give you an idea of what we're looking at for this year's festival.

Help Us Spread the Word! And an Update

At our last count, we were at 139 different events in the 2013 festival program!  We're working hard to make sure these events are accessible, interactive, and fun for everyone.  But we're looking for your help to make sure everyone knows about it!

We've printed up some beautiful Save the Date postcards.  Can you put some out in your community (schools, libraries, churches, coffeeshops, etc.)?  Contact Us and let us know how many you can use!

Or, send out the electronic version to your networks!

Thank you for your help!



An update!
Here we are in March, and we're steaming along on festival planning.

Want to see what we've been working on?  Check out the current Schedule of Events online for the 2013 Festival!  Hope you've marked your calendars for Friday, April 12 - Sunday, April 21.

Some quick highlights...


Friday, April 12: Big Ideas for Busy People at the First Parish in Cambridge (Harvard Square)
Saturday, April 13: Science Carnival and ROBOT Zoo! at the Cambridge Public Library 12-4pm
Sunday, April 14: Artisan's Asylum Open House & DIY Festival, Islam & Science
Monday, April 15: Boston-Cambridge Bridge Tours
Tuesday, April 16: You're the Expert 
Wednesday, April 17: Play Day at the MIT Museum
Thursday, April 18: Science Crawl
Friday, April 19: Science of Food, Gluten, Dairy, and Nuts, Oh My!
Saturday, April 20: Space & Rockets Day, Wallace Day
Sunday, April 21: Party for the Planet at the Franklin Park Zoo, Battlebots Competition

Excited yet?

Be sure to check out the rest of the program here.