From the Northern Illinois University STEM Saturdays web site.
STEM Saturday classes help students explore interesting topics through hands-on activities and exciting demonstrations. Parents are encouraged to attend students' classes and get in on the fun. This season's offerings include photography, computer programming, STEAM, introduction to Arduinos, and STEM activities for young divas.
STEM Saturday Courses Fall 2017
Please take a close look at the descriptions for recommended ages for each class. Some classes are two sessions.
Meeting Times: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
Earbuds and Beats by Dre are great, but how many of your friends can say that they’ve built their own set of speakers? During this STEM Saturday class, students learn about electromagnetism, solder electrical components, and take home their very own set of speakers and an amplifier.
Note - This class meets for two sessions.
Suggested ages: 12 and up
Price: $80
Register here
Meeting Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Meeting Room: Faraday 129
Our world thrives on improving our technology, so join the team in innovating and designing new ideas! Divas will use the engineering design cycle to identify what makes a good product and how to improve it while exploring their creativity and passion.
Note: This class will satisfy the requirements for Girl Scouts Juniors Product Designer badge and is open to anyone who is interested.
Does your entire troop/pack want to participate in more of our STEM programs? Contact us to set up private programs and customized activities to earn more badges!
Suggested ages: 7 to 12
T-shirts are available in both adult and youth sizes for $10 each
Class Price: $45
Register here
Meeting Time: 9:00am – 2:00pm
Meeting Room: Holmes Student Center, Heritage Room
Loaded with tons of hands-on projects to help teach coding, Cubs Scouts and Girl Scouts will both be able to attend and have the chance to earn a badge. Scouts will program robots, learn how robots work, build their own robot models, and observe college students during the Hackathon coding competition!
- Girl Scout Brownie badge: Designing Robots
- Girl Scout Junior badge: Programming Robots
- Cub Scout Bear badge: Robotics
Does your entire troop/pack want to participate in more of our STEM programs? Contact us to set up private programs and customized activities to earn more badges.
Suggested ages: 7 to 12
Price: $65
Register here
Meeting Times: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
Art is all around us, and now it’s in our STEM classroom! Join us for a full day of discovering how we use STEM to make art and how we use art to learn about STEM. Students will find many opportunities to use their creative side with engineering and visual art projects, including a pop-up card and a musical instrument.
Suggested ages: 7 to 12
Price: $35
Register here
Meeting Times: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
Learn to code like the best! Students will learn how humans communicate with computers, practice their logic skills, and use critical thinking to command a computer to complete tasks and challenges in this fun and interactive introduction to computer programming. No prior experience necessary!
Students can use our Arduino kits for free. Families who are interested in purchasing an Arduino kit with the components used in class may visit the following link before or after this class. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13969
Suggested ages: 12 and up
Price: $30
Register here
Meeting Times: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
Expand your coding skills and make a project come alive with our intermediate level coding class. Here, students will use both physical and digital components to complete multidisciplinary tasks.
Please note that this class requires completion of one of our previous Arduino classes.
Suggested ages: 12 and up
Price: $30
Register here
Meeting Times: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
Come with your selfie face and be ready to snap pictures in our STEM photography class! Students will see how cameras evolved to the tiny power machines we keep in our pockets and investigate what makes a good photo. Students build their own mini-studio and edit their photos to share with their friends and family.
Families are encouraged to bring smartphones or tablets, but we will have some available for students to use.
Note: This class will satisfy the requirements for Girl Scouts Juniors Digital Photographer badge and it is open to anyone who is interested.
Does your entire troop/pack want to participate in more of our STEM programs? Contact us to set up private programs and customized activities to earn more badges.
Suggested ages: 7 to 12
T-shirts available in both adult and youth sizes for $10 each
Class Price: $45
Register here
Meeting Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Meeting Room: NIU STEM Classroom (Swen Parson 146)
The annual holiday party is our way of saying thanks to all of our students and their families who participated in the Fall 2017 Saturday classes! We’ll spend half of our time doing a special holiday themed demonstration show, complete with refreshments. The other half will be spent making science themed gifts with the kids while the adults get a chance to hear about some of our favorite STEMtastic gift ideas.
Price: $10 per family
Register here
