Careers in Engineering
Science is about knowing; engineering is about doing. --Henry Petroski
Career Speaker
11am & 1pm
Our guest speaker this month is Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Justin Douglas, owner of King Electric Recording in Austin. Join us to find out about the engineering principles behind making musical artists sound amazing!
Justin is a graduate of Berklee School of Music. He has 15 years of experience working on hundreds of recordings, including multi-platinum and Grammy-winning albums and feature films. At this month’s Homeschool Day, Justin will tell us all about his career path, and how he turned his passion for music into an exciting career.
Hands-on Activities
Stations run continuously from 11am-2pm
Strawbees Creations
Use the Strawbees system to engineer your own creation. These amazingly simple tools promote curiosity and encourage playful learning. What will you dream up? A pet, a dinosaur, a helpful machine or something that’s never before been seen?
Make a Mountain Rescue Litter
Litters are used for rescues in hard to reach places, like mountainous terrain. Be a biomedical engineer when you design and build your own mountain rescue litter to evacuate an injured potato person from the backcountry! Consider principles of weight, stability, portability and ease of assembly when you create your litter.
Mystery Bag Challenge
Grab a mystery bag and make a Pom Pom Launcher! Everyone gets a bag of materials that can be used to manufacture a working launching system. Get creative with your materials to see what you can engineer!
Learning Labs and Pricing:
$5 for non-members
$4.50 for members
Learning Labs are included for STEM Scholars
Due to the popularity of Learning Labs, reservations are strongly encouraged. Space is limited! Email fieldtrips@sciencemill.org to reserve your child's spot.
K-2 - Zippity Doo Dah, 10:30am, lasts 45 minutes: Be an engineer and make a zipline car that safely - but quickly - moves your Lego passenger down ziplines.
3-5 - Crazy Contraptions, 11:30am, lasts one hour: Use building materials to engineer a contraption that moves marbles from the top of a peg board to the bottom.
6-8 - Roller Coaster Tycoon, 1pm, lasts one hour: Design and build a foam roller coaster, complete with loops and jumps, that will successfully deliver different sizes of marbles from beginning to end.