Presented by Cinema/Chicago and the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, CineYouth is a yearly youth film festival celebrating and showcasing short films made by filmmakers 21 years old and younger from around the world. 

Celebrating its 10th year May 8-10, 2014, CineYouth strives to encourage the talent and accomplishments of young artists and provide them with opportunities to tell their stories, network with other filmmakers and be recognized for their creativity. 

CineYouth is a free festival open to the public of all ages.  Click here for complete details and schedule.

Taking a cue from the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, The Hoagies Gifted Education Page has started a Blog Hop.  What's that you say?  It is an invitation for bloggers to blog on a topic.  For the month of May the topic is The "G" Word.  A brief blurb and a link to each blog is available on the Hoagies Blog Hop page.

Enjoy the hopping! 



Next month: Gifted@Play. 

For many architects, building with LEGOs was their first step towards cultivating a mind for design, and they often return to this classic toy to spark their imagination. Today, sets like the LEGO Architecture Studio are more sophisticated and versatile than ever, appealing to teens and adults as well. Building with this set at the ArcelorMittal Design Studio @ CAF is a fun way for people to get inspired by architecture and learn the fundamentals while creating their own designs! Every Sunday in 2014, they host workshops led by guest designers, offering two sessions each day with themes that change monthly to drive the topics of discussion and kinds of structures that guests build. The studios are open to all, and visitors under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult. TIME: Two shifts (12pm – 2pm; 2:30pm – 4:30pm) COST: $10 non-members, $5 members LOCATION: CAF Design Studio, 224 S. Michigan Ave  2014 Schedule of Themes: April: Scale  May: Space June: Repetition July: Landmarks August: Surface September: Mass October: Symmetry November: City Scale December: Home for the Holidays For complete details see the Chicago Architecture Foundation web site.

Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) encourages students to explore problem-solving and thinking methods of scientists as they pursue their own research. NIU is proud to host the 2014 State Science Fair Exposition. Attend the public viewing on May 3 to see the best of the science projects by Illinois students.  The viewing is from Noon - 3 at NIU's Convocation Center.  See the IJAS web site for complete details.

The Davidson Institute is seeking gifted teens who are interested in attending the 2014 THINK Summer Institute.  THINK is a three-week residential summer program on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno where students can earn up to six college credits by completing two university courses. The 2014 THINK Summer Institute will run from July 12 through Aug. 2. Tuition is $3,400 and covers course credits, books and materials, room and board and the cost of planned activities. Need-based scholarships are available. To qualify, students must be 13 to 16 years old during THINK and must meet or exceed composite SAT score of 1130 (excludes writing portion) or ACT score of 26.  The new application deadline is April 30, 2014. Homeschooled students are eligible to apply. To learn more about THINK, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org/THINK.

 

THE 79TH COMPTON LECTURE SERIES

Every Saturday morning beginning April 5, through June 7, 2014; lectures start at 11:00 a.m. (No lecture on May 24th [Memorial Day Weekend])

Lecturer: Elise Jennings, Kavli Postdoctoral Scholar and Simons Foundation Fellow, Enrico Fermi Institute
Topic: "Cosmic Cartography - Exploring an Expanding Universe"

Kersten Physics Teaching Center
5720 S. Ellis Avenue, Room 106
Chicago, IL 60637

The discovery that the expansion of the Universe is being accelerated by a mysterious force that cosmologists call "Dark Energy" has had an immense impact and is the most exciting area of research in Cosmology today. The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three astronomers who found the first direct evidence of this acceleration by observing the brightness of exploding stars in the Universe. These astonishing observations have ignited a race towards an even bigger discovery - what is Dark Energy? Unravelling the nature of Dark Energy is one of the most important problems facing cosmologists and will answer profound questions about fundamental physics in our Universe.

In these lectures Dr. Jennings will describe the cutting-edge of current research which tries to make sense of Dark Energy and the accelerating expansion. Uncovering the nature of Dark Energy will require exciting cosmic detective work gathering evidence, formulating theories and testing new ideas in the largest laboratory available to us - the Universe. The lectures require no mathematical or scientific background; just bring your curiosity.

Additional information can be found here.

You may have heard of the Splash! and Cascade! programs offered by the University of Chicago.  A new program, Droplet!, has been added for 2014.  Droplet! is a one-day program fro high school students to engage in hands-on activities to learn about interesting topics they may never have seen before in high school. Like Splash!, Droplet! allows students to meet college students and other high school students in a fun context.  Unlike Splash! or Cascade!, Droplet! primarily will use interactive learning.  Like the other programs, Droplet! is free to attend.  Droplet! will take place at the University of Chicago on May 3.  Registration begins April 5.  See https://splashchicago.learningu.org/ for details on all programs.

Don't forget to order your tickets - only $4.50 per person - for the Wonders of Science show at Femilab on April 6. Tickets have to be ordered in advance.  The annual show is for students in grades 2 - 7 and their parents.  Award winning high school chemistry teachers present a fast-paced series of demonstrations on chemical and physical phenomena that will involve yuor young scientists mentally and, at times, physically! Click here for complete details, including ticket information.