STEM Expo

Collin and I recently attended the Wellesley STEM Expo.  It was a great day for the two of us.  We don't get to spend much one on one time together these days and he is very interested in all things STEM, so it was a perfect outing.  I didn't know what to expect from the event, and I was slightly nervous it would just be a glorified science fair with nothing of interest for Collin, but the event surpassed my expectations and there was a lot of fun to be had.

Here he is at the Museum of Science table trying to construct an object that would hover perfectly inside the tube (maybe a pneumatic tube, I'm not certain):

 After some trial and error, he succeeded.

 The instructor is showing him the light path of his object in the tube on the computer screen.

The infrared camera at another table was pretty cool.  Collin put his hand on his coat and then moved his hand away.  The handprint remained visible for some time after with the infrared technology.

Collin liked writing with light on glow in the dark paper.

 He used prisms to move lasers.

Here he is directing lasers with mirrors:

 There was a candy math activity that was super easy for Collin, but he was happy to eat the candy!

I was very happy with the Camp Invention table!  Collin and Reagan are both registered for a week of Camp Invention this summer, and it is a new program for us, so it was nice to see a little of what they offer.  At this table, Collin had to choose objects to place within a plastic egg that would result in the egg floating.

He accomplished the task.  The instructor was incredibly impressed with Collin because after he succeeded, he opened the egg and counted out each piece so that he would know exactly what worked.  She said he was the first student she has ever seen do that (usually they are happy to have succeeded and they go on their way), and she called him a "great scientist".

Kaleidoscope fun!

He built a bridge that could hold twenty-one books.  I'm sure it could have held more, but the idea was to learn about the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge was tested with twenty-one elephants after it was built.

Collin was very interested in the 3D printer.  It was making toys like those in the picture.

The MA state police had bomb detecting robots for the kids to try.  Here is Collin learning how to control the robot:

We had a lot of fun together that day, and we are both hoping to make it back to the expo next year.