Science and technology in the school holidays

There are a few interestingly geeky school holiday options flowing through my inbox at the moment.

The Australian Museum has Scientist for a Day. There are two programs, one just titled Weird Science and the other a more explanatory Animals of the Wild. Weird Science is pitched as: “Throw out your outdated ideas that science is all test tubes and text books. Celebrate the weird and wacky world of the most extreme science. Put your goggles on for some totally outrageous hands on experiments.” In Animals of the Wild you learn all about animal behaviour and instincts. For all the gory details see here.

Over at Thinkspace at the Powerhouse, they have their usual wonderful array of programs: Thinkspace is really growing to become a treasure. From game design to creating circuits, from Minecraft to practical electronics – there’s really a great range here. What I particularly like is that they are going beyond the science as a cool show level (how many times can sherbet be created to no useful outcome?) and creating real engaging courses for older kids. Interesting to see so many aimed solely at girls too. For all the gory details see here.

Professor Plum’s in Crows Nest is also running some programs in conjunction with Fizzics Education and CSIRO. These are aimed at slightly younger kids perhaps, but look interesting if your kids haven’t done this wort of thing before. For all the gory details see here.

(By the way, I know I wrote yesterday about not conflating science and technology, but you see this article is about both those things so it’s OK.)