2012 Summer Academy Topics

 

Summer 2012 Topics:
Junior Scientist programs - Pre-K & K
Links to schedules by county

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 Mad Machines &
Crazy Contraptions 

This is a camp designed by you—the Inventor! Each day you’ll be given a series of challenges which must be overcome using basic materials, simple machines, tips from world famous inventors and the most important thing of all – your mind. If you were stranded on a desert island how would you survive? You will need to build shelter, find food and purify water, protect yourself and your teammates from the elements and find a way off the island – or die trying (not really). Journey to the future and examine the ultramodern inventions of the 23rd century. Then design the future - today. "Create" mini light sabers, “green energy”, and hovercraft. With a little bit of ingenuity you’ll construct catapults and forts and then lay siege, fabricate a winning Egg Drop design, construct a dancing robot and experiment with a Salt Water Fuel Cell Car.  While Thomas Edison said invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, this camp is 100% fun!

Appropriate for students who have completed grades K - 4

Science Mysteries & Fantastic Forces

Investigate several topics each day with cool take-home projects. Kids will be engineers, chemists, and stunt pilots! Children will have fun with physics and learn the science behind magic tricks. Your Mad Scientists will be shocked by what they learn about electricity… blown away by their experiments with air pressure… and swept away by the excitement of working with waves! They will learn about simple machines and build a propeller-powered car. Campers will make and take home their own crystal garden, a center-of-gravity game, a “magic” box which make objects disappear, a “Skyhawk” foam plane, an “Air Blaster” foam rocket launcher, a bridge building kit, a Cartesian diver, a “Drag Racer” car, and their own batch of ooey, gooey slime.

Appropriate for students who have completed grades K - 4

Crazy ChemWorks

This action-packed camp explores the chemistry of everyday life! With spectacular hands-on activities and stunning demonstrations, kids will both learn and apply the concepts, tools and techniques of real chemists! Campers will start by learning real lab techniques and safety procedures, and then use these throughout the week to mix crazy concoctions and chemical combo’s. They will experiment with super-sticky-stuff, explore glow-in-the-dark technology, mix potions, make slime, and grow crystals! Each camper will take home a full set of Mad Science lab gear that includes a graduated cylinder, a beaker, a flask, an experiment tube, pH paper, a thermo-color cup, a blacklight writer, and more!
 Appropriate for students who have completed grades 1 - 5
(Groups with large age ranges are split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.)
  

    Nature Adventure     

Explore the natural world and the adaptations that allow birds and beasts to thrive. A new and different fun take-home project each day. Make plaster casts of animal tracks. Learn how animal protect themselves: survive icy cold like a polar bear and dissect oysters to see how they resist an annoying itch. Build a bird feeder and mix your own seed blend to attract specific bird species. Make recycled paper.  Tie-dye t-shirts with vegetable dyes.  Test water for pollution, and then build a water filter to remove anything nasty. Construct a bug house for observing real, live bugs. Study the feeding habits of owls and dissect the remains of their lunch. Learn about geology by growing your own crystal garden and breaking open your own geode.  And pan for spectacular gems and minerals that can be found in the Hudson Valley. 

Appropriate for students who have completed grades K - 5
(Groups with large age ranges are split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.)  


NASA Journey Into Outer Space

Material developed by Mad Science and NASA. Take a voyage of discovery into the atmosphere and beyond. Explore planets, moons, and other space phenomena in our solar system. Examine the sun and other stars. Discover the difficulties of space travel , the challenges of living in space, and try assembling a satellite while training to be an austronaut. Learn about the various technologies that make space exploration possible while bouncing lasers around the room, and take home an LED UFO. Build your own Mad Science rocket, and launch several with the group. Campers will have lots of projects to make and to take home including a Kepler’s Cube solar system puzzle, a Cosmic Chronometer, a Shuttle Copter, and a Catch-a-Comet.   Mad Science is the ONLY organization licensed to use these activities for summer camps and school programs.              Appropriate for students who have completed grades 1 - 5
            (Groups with large age ranges are split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.)

NASA website link -  "NASA and Mad Science Partner to Promote Science Education"


 

 

Red Hot Robots 

Explore the basic and complex technology used to design and build robots. Discover how machines and robots work and how they make our lives easier. Learn about simple machines, gear structure, battery wiring, motor principles, and electronic circuits. Experiment with arcs of high voltage electricity. Compare different forms of locomotion - including wheels, legs, and "tracks". Build your very own robot and several other take-home projects, including a robotic hand, a "megapincher" lever project, and a "Circuit Maze". Separate sessions will be offered for different age groups with different age appropriate robots and machines to build and take home. 
A new robot is featured every year.  

             Appropriate for students who have completed grades 1 - 5
(Groups with large age ranges are split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.)


 

15 hours of fun-filled, hands-on, secret agent themed science activities featuring 10 take-home projects! The five daily themes are Discover Detection, Funky Forensics, Science of Security, Sleuths on the Scene, and Spy Academy. During the week the agents put everything they have learned to the test.  They will code and decode messages, use spy equipment on a surveillance shift, collect and analyze evidence, explore the science of tracking, practice facial reconstruction, and many other activities that are so top secret they cannot be described publicly!  Take home projects include an ultraviolet Fingerprint Finder kit, Spyglasses that let you secretly watch people who are behind you, Spy-noculars, a Secret Code Breaker, and an Inspecti-kit for evidence collection.

Appropriate for students who have completed grades 1 - 5
(Groups with large age ranges are split into smaller, age-appropriate groups.)

 


Ancient Adventures &
Buried Bones 

Investigate geology, paleontology and archaeology.  Dig into the physical remains left behind by people and animals in the past. Delve into the mysteries of Ancient Egypt  and the lost city of Pompeii.  Explore the past by examining the objects that ancient peoples left behind.  See how dinosaurs lived, played and hunted.  Cast and assemble the skeleton of a velociraptor.  Mummify a mad scientist. Participate in a mock archaeological dig and assemble the pre-historic skeletal remains you uncover.    Decipher ancient languages and preserve genuine artifacts. Even take home an actual Roman coin that is over a thousand years old!  Solve a new mystery every day.   

Appropriate for students who have completed grades 1 - 5

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Junior Scientist Programs

Ages 4** - 6  
 **These programs are intended for children who are entering or have just completed Kindergarten.

Limited availability for the summer of 2011

These sessions are offered in a limited number of locations.  All of these sessions will be in the morning only, and will be schedule from 9:15 to noon.  Class size will be limited to 15 children.

Junior Explorers' Camp 

Explore a different topic each day – Space, Machines, Science of Sports, Science of Toys, and Che-Mystery. Explore the solar system and build your own Mad Science Shuttle. Launch rockets. Mix and eat your own batch of space food.  Learn about levers and build your own machines – including an air-powered Drag Racer. Use science to protect athletes from harm (actually…egg-letes). Play with cool toys and try to figure out how they work. Experiment with potions and mix your own batch of sidewalk chalk. Make your own slime. …tons of fun indoor and outdoor activities.  (Food allergy alert: Children will handle eggs & milk.)

Appropriate for Kindergartners


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            Rockland County Locations & Schedule

            Orange County Locations & Schedule 

            Ulster County Locations & Schedule 

            Dutchess County:
                  Dutchess Community College
                  Other Dutchess County Locations

            Custom camp locations
                    (If you have 12 interested kids, you can schedule your own camp!)

Click here to see the Testimonials page 

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