In-Class Workshops

We spark imaginative learning in your classroom, library, or scout troop!

Our Workshops, or in-class field trips, are hands-on, minds-on one-hour science programs that enable children to work closely with a Mad Scientist and explore a variety of science topics through fun experiments, activities, and discussions.

With topics ranging from rocketry and magnets to polymers and electricity, kids become turned on to the science that is around them every day and realize it's COOL!  Each workshop includes a Pre and Post Activity Guide with additional experiments and activities that can be performed before and after our visit to reinforce the science topic.  The guide also provides additional references and corollaries to other areas of learning.

Mad Science Workshops correlate to State Science Frameworks and are an excellent preparation for Massachusetts MCAS or Rhode Island NECAP assessment tests.

Our fun and fully-trained instructors come to you with all the materials necessary to run our dynamic programs!

For more information, see below or contact us!

Workshop Descriptions

 Workshop
Frequently Asked Questions

Where are the Workshops held?

Wherever your kids are!  We come to you, whether it's to your classroom, your library, or your home.

"As always, the Mad Scientists are such wonderful, engaging instructors!  They know how to speak age-appropriately, and they implement each activity smoothly.” – St. Thomas Regional School, Providence, RI

Are Workshops only offered at certain times or on certain days?

Nope!  We're available morning, evening, weekday, or weekends.  If your kids are around, so are we!

"I thought this program placed an incredible amount of quality learning into 1 hour.  The Mad Scientist was engaging and really respected and enjoyed the students.  The hands-on were powerful experiences.  I'd love to have this program again!” – 4th Grade Teacher, Joseph DeMello School, South Dartmouth, MA 

What kind of space do you need?

We need enough space for kids to work comfortably without being disturbed.  Since many activities are done as small groups, tables or floor space tends to work better than desks.  Depending on the topic being offered, we may also need access to water, electricity, or a room that can be darkened somewhat (to make some experiments even cooler!).

"This was the best – most exciting, interesting adventure we have had booking people for Cub Scouts!  [Our Mad Scientist] was a pleasure, kind, patient, and absolutely fantastic!  What an awesome experience!!!” – Cub Scout Pack 3, Smithfield, RI

There’s a particular Mad Scientist that we really like!  Could we request him or her?

What topics do you offer?

In addition to the Workshops listed below, we can also often offer customized Workshops in order to fulfill specific requirements, such as scout badges.  All Workshops are designed for grades K-6, though some topics are particularly well-suited for certain ages.  These are indicated below.  Most Workshops include take-home items, also indicated.  Program activities and take-homes are subject to change.

"The Grade 3 teachers love this program.  It's one of the students' favorite enrichment programs.” – Enrichment Coordinator, H. H. Richardson School, Easton, MA

APPROPRIATE FOR GRADES K-6

ACIDS & BASES:  Test household items like chalk, toothpaste, and orange juice for properies of acids and bases.  Learn how to use pH paper and indicators.  Take-home: Canister Cannon

BUGS!:  Learn about insects and non-insects and dispel some of their myths.  Learn how they protect themselves and see through their eyes!  Take-home: Build a Bug

DRY ICE:  Explore the states of matter in this super-cool class!  See how frozen carbon dioxide is use to create movie effects like fog and potions!  Take-home: Thermochromic Cup

"Absolutely wonderful!  Kids loved it.  An excellent performance, and excellent way to launch the unit on states of matter.  It's a very conceptual unit - sometimes what they cannot see is difficult to explain.  [The Mad Scientist] made it visible and real.” – Enrichment Coordinator, Allen Avenue Elementary, N. Attleboro, MA

FUNDAMENTAL FORCES:  Explore how gravity and inertia work though experiments with gyroscopes and vortexes.  Balance objects on your head to test their center of gravity!  Feel how a spinning bicyle wheel keeps a rider upright.  Take-home: Balloon Centrifuge

GOOD VIBRATIONS:  Learn about sound waves and pitch by experimenting with tuning forks, springs, tubes, and more.  Electronically alter your voice with a voice warp generator.  Take-home: Sonic Horns

INVENTION-ATION:  Exercise your imagination in this creative class!  Learn how to think like an inventor and how to brainstorm new ideas.  Create an imaginary Rube Goldberg device.  Take-home: Mad Science Pencil and Puzzle Pack

"My students returned to class asking to begin working on their science projects.  This program made them feel like inventors!” – Old Hammondtown School, Mattapoisett, MA

LASER LIGHT:  Examine the properties of light waves using mirrors and fog.  See a laser beam travel through a water spout.  Help make a laser maze.  Take-home: Diffraction Glasses

LIGHTS...COLOR...ACTION:  Learn how colors combine and separate as light and as pigments.  Experiment with ultraviolet light.  Take-home: Newton's Color Wheel

MAD SCIENCE MACHINES:  Learn about levers, pulleys, wheels and more!  Solve problems by creating simple machines with simple objects!  Take-home: Catapult

MATTER OF FACT:  Learn how atoms are combined to make molecules.  Make marshmallow molecules.  Copper-plate a nickel using chemicals and electricity.  Take-home: Mad Science Putty

ROCKET SCIENCE (2 hours):    Learn the principles of rocket flight.  Explore the principle of thrust and demostrate it with a baloon race!  Then build your own launchable model rocket to take home!  Finish the workshop outside with an actual solid fuel rocket launch! (Req. add’l materials fee.)  Take-home: Completed Model Rocket

 

SLIPPERY SCIENCE:  Learn all about polymers and their properties.  Use Silly Putty to see how polymers behave.  Show the elasticity of polymers in a very scary experiment using water, plastic bags, and very pointy pencils!  Take-home: Mad Science Slime

"[Your Mad Scientist] is fantastic!  He really knows how to entertain the children as well as provide them with educational information; very age appropriate!  Thank you!” – Director, Sweet Peas Village Lower School, East Greenwich, RI

 

UNDER PRESSURE:  See how air can crush cans, lift water, and expand marshmallows!  Participate in a ping pong ball relay using hair dryers and very steady hands.  Then float a ball using just lung power!  Take-home: Ping Pong Ball and Straw

WACKY WAVES:  Examine density and buoyancy.  When does an egg float?  When does it not?  Make a density stacker using different types of liquids and objects.  Which items are denser than others?  Take-home: Wave Motion Modulator

WACKY WEATHER:  See how weather systems are formed and measured.  Examine and test anemometers.  See how a cloud is formed.  See how temperature affects pressure.  Lift a classmate - using air!  Take-home: UV Bead Kit

"This was a very well-received program, highly relevant, very interesting, and the children loved it.” - 4th Grade Teacher, Joseph DeMello School, South Dartmouth, MA

 

ESPECIALLY FUN FOR GRADES K-2

BODY BASICS:  Find out what goes on inside your body and how to keep it working properly.  Learn about the food groups and re-create your stomach in a test tube!  Listen to your heart with a stethoscope.  Take-home: Organ Outfit

DECOMPOSERS:  Examine the importance of decomposition.  Use a microslide viewer to see pictures of fungi and worms.  Try to eat like a worm does!  Examine and observe a live worm up close!  Take-home: Composter and Worm!

DINOSAURS:  See how scientists learn about dinosaurs.  Find out how to learn all about a dinosaur just by examining a fossil of its tooth.  Learn about herbivores and carnivores.  Make a cast of a dinosaur tooth!  Learn how to dig for fossils like a paleontologist does.  Take-home: T. Rex Tooth Cast

 

MAGNIFICENT MAGNETS:  Learn when magents stick and when they don't!  See how magnets make objects seem to defy gravity.  Use a variety of magnets to devise your own experiments.  Take-home: Magnet Lab

SEEKING OUR SENSES:  Can your eyes be fooled?  Can you identify objects with your ears?  Or your fingers?  Take-home: Braille Alphabet Card

SPACE...THE FINAL FRONTIER:  Learn the names of the planets names and where they live in our solar system.  Make moon craters and see a comet up close!  Take-home: Shuttle Copter

"A wonderful program.  Well organized, well prepared, well delivered.  Our students look forward to your activities.  Your presenters have been outstanding.” – St. Thomas Regional School, Providence, RI

ESPECIALLY FUN FOR GRADES 3-6

BLACK AND BLUE OCEANS:  Examine the effects of oil spills.  Explore the concept of dilution.  Devise and test clean-up techniques in a mock oil spill.  Take-home: Wave Motion Modulator

ECOSYSTEM EXPLORATIONS:  Make a Mobeius Loop to help learn the water cycle.  Explore the relationships among plants and animals by creating a food web.  Make a mini-ecosystem in a bottle and examine it with your classmates in the days and weeks to come!