The September (email) newsletter from The Field Museum contains the following program announcement:

Calling all teens! New after-school programs

Electronic Gardens
Wednesdays, September 17–October 15, 4:00-6:00pm

Explore the Museum year-round with our after-school programs. Tinker, create, and innovate in our digital studio. In a connected world, even gardens are part of the Internet of Things. Come learn the basics of urban gardening and how electronics can give us better insights into homegrown food at The Field Museum. Programs are free of charge and open to teens ages 14-18. Teens can arrive up to 5:00pm. Learn More.

No matter what type of "school" your kids participate in, the end of the summer can be a stressful time as it is a time of transition.  This is a good time for parents to remember to take care of their own needs, as well as the needs of their children.  In the article, "Parental Self-Care," in our Spring 2014 Newsletter, Sheryl Stoller explains that great giftedness is accompanied by a great need for parental self-care.  Take a moment to read it today.

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From the Adler Planetarium E-News:

Join Adler astronomers and volunteers at Chicago's parks and schools this summer for free telescope observing. 

Daytime observers can view the Sun safely through special filters to see its sunspots and prominences, while night time observers can potentially get a glimpse of the rings of Saturn and its largest moon, Titan, as well as the red planet, Mars.    

 Upcoming Events:

Saturday, June 21 

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park (301 S. Columbus Dr.) 

 

Thursday, July 10

1 to 3 p.m. 

Union Park (1501 W. Randolph St.) 

 

Thursday, July 17 

8:30 to 10 p.m. 

Ronan Park (2904 W. Lawrence Ave.) 

 

Monday, July 21 

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park (301 S. Columbus Dr.)

 

Tuesday, August 26 
7:30 to 9 p.m.

Senn High School (5900 N. Glenwood Ave.)  

 

Please note: All dates are weather-permitting. Follow @adlerskywatch on Twitter for day-of updates.  

From the MSI Web Site:

We're gearing up for another fun summer of learning with Summer Brain Games! MSI is once again offering up an exciting science-fused solution to help kids stay engaged during summer vacation.

Summer Brain Games offers eight weeks of free and fun at-home science experiments designed to combat the "summer brain drain," when kids lose months of critical learning. The free online activity guide features weekly experiments. This year, we'll have fun with science-themed carnival games and activities, all easily done at home with kids of all ages (and a little adult supervision).

The Summer Brain Games online kit will offer other engaging tidbits about the science to be found around you all summer—and year—long. Learn about pressure as you launch stomp rocket daredevils, become an engineer and design the fastest boat you can race, construct a carnival tent from newspapers and much more.

Register to Get in the Game

Register now to be a part of MSI’s Summer Brain Games. When activities kick off in June, you’ll receive a voucher good for a FREE Museum Entry ticket to MSI this summer. We'll send you weekly emails (starting the week of June 16) with tips on each experiment and additional ways to play with science.

Presented by Cinema/Chicago and the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, CineYouth is a yearly youth film festival celebrating and showcasing short films made by filmmakers 21 years old and younger from around the world. 

Celebrating its 10th year May 8-10, 2014, CineYouth strives to encourage the talent and accomplishments of young artists and provide them with opportunities to tell their stories, network with other filmmakers and be recognized for their creativity. 

CineYouth is a free festival open to the public of all ages.  Click here for complete details and schedule.

Taking a cue from the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, The Hoagies Gifted Education Page has started a Blog Hop.  What's that you say?  It is an invitation for bloggers to blog on a topic.  For the month of May the topic is The "G" Word.  A brief blurb and a link to each blog is available on the Hoagies Blog Hop page.

Enjoy the hopping! 



Next month: Gifted@Play. 

For many architects, building with LEGOs was their first step towards cultivating a mind for design, and they often return to this classic toy to spark their imagination. Today, sets like the LEGO Architecture Studio are more sophisticated and versatile than ever, appealing to teens and adults as well. Building with this set at the ArcelorMittal Design Studio @ CAF is a fun way for people to get inspired by architecture and learn the fundamentals while creating their own designs! Every Sunday in 2014, they host workshops led by guest designers, offering two sessions each day with themes that change monthly to drive the topics of discussion and kinds of structures that guests build. The studios are open to all, and visitors under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult. TIME: Two shifts (12pm – 2pm; 2:30pm – 4:30pm) COST: $10 non-members, $5 members LOCATION: CAF Design Studio, 224 S. Michigan Ave  2014 Schedule of Themes: April: Scale  May: Space June: Repetition July: Landmarks August: Surface September: Mass October: Symmetry November: City Scale December: Home for the Holidays For complete details see the Chicago Architecture Foundation web site.

Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) encourages students to explore problem-solving and thinking methods of scientists as they pursue their own research. NIU is proud to host the 2014 State Science Fair Exposition. Attend the public viewing on May 3 to see the best of the science projects by Illinois students.  The viewing is from Noon - 3 at NIU's Convocation Center.  See the IJAS web site for complete details.

The Davidson Institute is seeking gifted teens who are interested in attending the 2014 THINK Summer Institute.  THINK is a three-week residential summer program on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno where students can earn up to six college credits by completing two university courses. The 2014 THINK Summer Institute will run from July 12 through Aug. 2. Tuition is $3,400 and covers course credits, books and materials, room and board and the cost of planned activities. Need-based scholarships are available. To qualify, students must be 13 to 16 years old during THINK and must meet or exceed composite SAT score of 1130 (excludes writing portion) or ACT score of 26.  The new application deadline is April 30, 2014. Homeschooled students are eligible to apply. To learn more about THINK, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org/THINK.

 

THE 79TH COMPTON LECTURE SERIES

Every Saturday morning beginning April 5, through June 7, 2014; lectures start at 11:00 a.m. (No lecture on May 24th [Memorial Day Weekend])

Lecturer: Elise Jennings, Kavli Postdoctoral Scholar and Simons Foundation Fellow, Enrico Fermi Institute
Topic: "Cosmic Cartography - Exploring an Expanding Universe"

Kersten Physics Teaching Center
5720 S. Ellis Avenue, Room 106
Chicago, IL 60637

The discovery that the expansion of the Universe is being accelerated by a mysterious force that cosmologists call "Dark Energy" has had an immense impact and is the most exciting area of research in Cosmology today. The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three astronomers who found the first direct evidence of this acceleration by observing the brightness of exploding stars in the Universe. These astonishing observations have ignited a race towards an even bigger discovery - what is Dark Energy? Unravelling the nature of Dark Energy is one of the most important problems facing cosmologists and will answer profound questions about fundamental physics in our Universe.

In these lectures Dr. Jennings will describe the cutting-edge of current research which tries to make sense of Dark Energy and the accelerating expansion. Uncovering the nature of Dark Energy will require exciting cosmic detective work gathering evidence, formulating theories and testing new ideas in the largest laboratory available to us - the Universe. The lectures require no mathematical or scientific background; just bring your curiosity.

Additional information can be found here.