Homeschool Day: Careers in Art & STEM

Calling all creative problem-solvers and curious questioners! Explore Careers in Art & STEM on Wednesday, May 11 from 10am-2pm with hands-on activities, interactive demonstrations and Learning Labs for grades K-12. Get inspired by surprising combinations—including printing with sunlight, painting assisted by insects, a robot that draws, sounds you can see, and mathematical bubbles. Don’t miss this last Homeschool Day of the 2021-22 school year! 

ACTIVITY STATIONS

Solar printing demos

See invisible UV light waves in action with the help of special light-sensitive fabric! Get creative arranging shapes and textures: anywhere light is blocked will stay the same, while exposed spots will go through a color-changing chemical reaction. What sun-inspired designs will you create? (Check the day’s schedule for demo times; solar print kits will also be available for purchase in the Science Store.)

mBot Artist

Meet the mBot Artist, a drawing machine that leaves a colorful trail wherever it goes. Decide which art supplies to attach to mBot, then program its path to draw your desired design. We can't wait to see what the two of you make together!

Picture yourself as a scientist

Step behind our cut-out scene and snap your photo as George Washington Carver and Rosalind Franklin. Both ground-breaking scientists combined art and science: Franklin revolutionized our understanding of DNA by capturing the first X-ray diffraction photos of the double helix. And in addition to being a scientist, Carver was a painter and illustrator—he even invented new paints made from peanuts and soil!

Living Mural: A brush with nature

Observe animals through an artist’s eyes to better understand their biology. Inspired by artforms like gyotaku (Japanese fish printing), we’ll gently cover insects with paper and brush over with paint to reveal the different segments and details that make up their anatomy.

Career Corner

Food scientist, animator, photographer, and architect are just a few of the many careers that combine art and STEM. This month’s career resources include tips for aspiring audio technicians, skill-building for scientific illustrators, and fun challenges for future fashion designers.
 

LEARNING LABS

Kinder-2nd Grade

Tessellation Bubbles – 10:30-11:15am

What’s a tessellation? Perfectly pieced together polygon designs that can repeat forever! Perform math magic that turns these 2D patterns into 3D shapes—but instead of magic wands, we’ll create tessellation bubble wands.

Grades 3rd-5th

Fantastic Foley Fun – 11:30am-12:30pm|

Thunder rumbles, a siren wails, footsteps echo…dramatic sound design helps set the mood in movies. Become a foley artist and create sound effects that enhance a movie clip, while exploring the science of sound waves and how we hear.

Grades 6th-12th

Sensing Soundwaves – 1-2pm

We may not see sound, but we definitely feel it—whether it’s floor-bouncing bass or a song that makes you “remember when…” What if we could see sound, too? Experiment with sound visualization tools as you investigate the science of soundwaves. Gather inspiration for ways that music, art and emotion could help us connect with other invisible science concepts.