INVENTIONS
ONLINE AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM
A Virtual STEM Afterschool Program that Explores INVENTIONS
Materials for HANDS-ON projects provided
- Inventions is taught 1 day per week for 8 weeks.
- Duration: Each meeting includes a 60 minute interactive live Zoom session.
- Extended activities: At least 1 additional hour of activities may be explored before the next scheduled Zoom session.
- A Zoom link to the afterschool program is provided with purchase.
- Each attendee is sent a companion book and kit uniquely configured for this program.
Age: 3rd – 7th Grade
Price: $160.00 + cost of materials (approx. $30)
NOTE: There is an additional ONE TIME fee for a mobile phone or tablet stand ($15) that allows the instructor to view the attendees work surface directly. This SECOND camera lets the instructor observe each project closeup and facilitates feedback and mentoring. The stand is reusable with all ScienceWiz Afterschool Programs and Camps.
To enroll, please contact the office for schedule and availability.
Summer camps and boy scout troops have repeatedly used Inventions in their programs.
Recipient of many top awards, reviewers from both toy and science magazines have praised this camp and afterschool program.
“The projects actually WORK….even for large groups where individualized attention is not possible.”
––––– Women’s Society of the IEEE
“Build them, and they will work . . . But that is not all. Here all right is a well-designed how-to-do-it book and kit, but it is far more than that . . This box holds a triumph of cheerful hands-on, minds-on teaching at a distance, a really difficult mission.”
––––– Scientific American
Inventions has had an extraordinary history and following. It has been used at MIT to mentor high school students in physics. It has been used at U.C. Berkeley to mentor women in science. It has been discovered independently by instructors at many other major academic institutions, including Fermi Lab and the University of Texas at Austin. We heard rumors that a number of physicists at U.C. Berkeley were spinning the hand made motors from Inventions on their desks, competing for the bragging rights as to whose was spinning the fastest.
WHAT STUDENTS WILL DO
Explore the INVENTIONS made with coils. Enter the mind of Nicola Tesla, the visionary behind our electrical grid, the electric motor and wireless communication. This afterschool program makes use of the book and kit, ScienceWiz® Inventions, which has sold millions of copies. Now we have combined these hand-on projects with a captivating virtual experience and live Zoom mentoring.
Build, Build, Build!
• a spinning motor
• a light flashing generator
• a clicking telegraph
• a working radio
You will need one D-cell battery and some common household items.
All other materials are included.
BUILD, BUILD, BUILD
- Build an electromagnet, make it stronger, flip its poles. Explore magnets, compasses and electric fields. Build a spinning motor with a coil and simple materials.
- Use a compass to figure out WHY something so simple as your motor actually SPINS! Construct a telegraph. Send coded messages.
- Make the world’s simplest generator and meet Mr. Faraday.
- Build a real radio.
- Tune in and discover how a radio works.
This immersive ScienceWiz® Inventions program focuses on the ground breaking inventions with COILS that ushered in the modern era. Each instructor-led session combines the making of a major coil-based invention and includes interactive simulations, games and amazing online experiences. Through the live online sessions, afterschoolers gain confidence and participate with others to learn, share and grow. Let the building begin!
MATERIALS NEEDED BEFORE THE AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM BEGINS
MATERIALS (Your welcoming email following enrollment provides a detailed list of materials.)
- 1.5 V alkaline battery (can be AA, AAA, C or D-cell)
The D-cell lasts the longest. - 1 toilet paper tube
- 1 paper towel or shipping tube
- piece of cardboard or shoe box lid
- white glue
- tape
- scissors
- piece of paper (8.5 – 11 inches)
- aluminum foil
TECHNOLOGY
- Desktop, laptop or tablet: must include a speaker and a camera AND
- A second mobile phone or tablet camera for detailed observation of the projects being built
- Zoom application installed
- Signed in with your child’s name
- Unmuted (the instructor will manage class muting/unmuting)
HERE ARE THE STEM TOPICS EXPLORED IN THIS PROGRAM
- Inventions with COILS!
- How the relationship between magnetism and electricity has shaped the modern world
- Meet Mr. Faraday and his Law of Induction
- Discover how a simple coil can change electricity into motion
- Explore one of the greatest discoveries of all time: how motion can be turned into electrical current WITHOUT a battery! And abracadabra — the electrical grid! You can bet a coil of wire is involved!
- How a coil can be used to change electrical current into SOUND VIBRATIONS. First simple clicks, then audible speech and music!
- Send coded messages: first dots and dashes, then ones and zeros
AWARDS FOR ScienceWiz® INVENTIONS
This afterschool program is based on a best selling title – millions of copies sold!
REVIEW FROM WIRED MAGAZINE
“… and it was the one brand of kit that has always come through for us. ScienceWiz® kits use simple materials and simple techniques that are pretty much foolproof. And they come with … full-color illustrated instructions that are easy to follow. What’s more, it contains enough background information to explain the science behind the projects without overwhelming the beginner.”
— Kathey Ceceri, is an award-winning author and educator who writes about hands-on learning science and technology for families