The 9th annual Cambridge Science Festival kicks off next Friday, April 17 through April 25 with an exciting series of events sure to please everyone. The annual event is the first of its kind in the United States, showcasing a wide-range of STEAM-related activities—Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and/or Math. The CSF partners with local educational institutions, including Harvard University, the Museum of Science, and the City of Cambridge to foster curiosity and creativity among students, the science community and the general public.
To gear up the festival, we asked some members of the Kendall Square Association which events they were most looking forward to. Here are their picks!
Karen Kerr, Bright Horizons at One Kendall Square (@BrightHorizons)
Science Magic with Bright Horizons at Davis Square
Tuesday, April 21
An afternoon of “Science Magic” and a chance to create lava lamps! Visit to learn how ice cubes and how our fingers can easily perform magic tricks! Children will also experiment with mixing different materials and solutions found at home, predict outcomes and finish by creating a lava lamp to take home.
Become an Engineering with Bright Horizons at University Park
Wednesday, April 22
Join us for a morning filled with engineering fun! We will be constructing bridges and boats with various materials and testing how much weight each structure can hold. We’ll use photos of well-known boats and bridges here in the Boston area and other well-known structures to help inspire our creations!
Sarah Gallop, Co-Director, Government and Community Relations at MIT (@SarahEGallop)
Wednesday, April 22
Please join us for a lively team trivia quiz that will test your knowledge of science from a variety of fields ranging from biology, chemistry, and physics to ecology and the history of science. Enter a team to compete on stage, or come and participate as an audience member and support your favorite team. Winning teams will enjoy a meal with one of MIT’s own Nobel Laureates! Contestants are restricted to Middle and High School students. Registration is required only for participating youth teams. To learn more or to register your team, please visit web.mit.edu/trivia/.
Exploring Neurobiology and Music
Friday, April 24
The Harvard Museums of Science and Culture present a special evening of music and science featuring Project LENS, a performance collaborative that seeks to reveal connections between music and a wide variety of topics as eclectic as evolution, 3D printing, humor, law, and birdsong. Join us as members of Project LENS, Ariel Mitnick, Rainer Crosett, and Alan Toda-Ambaras, explore the field of neurobiology with Dr. David Silbersweig, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Institute for the Neurosciences at Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals. Together they will present a TalkThread that reveals an idea, theory, or story; and a MusicThread spun of selections from the classical repertoire.
A Little Light Music: Songs of Electromagnetic Radiation
Saturday, April 25
A Little Light Music is a program of songs about light and the electromagnetic spectrum, sung by a multigenerational chorus, ages five to grandparent. It is accompanied by a slideshow of imaginative children’s artwork and the lyrics. The music is by several composers in a variety of styles. The program includes songs about wavelengths seen by various animals, bioluminescence, lasers, and much more. The songs are informative, poetic, and entertaining. This is a performance both kids and adults will enjoy!
Our Top Picks:
SoundScience Fun! Museum of Science, Science Live! Stage
Friday, April 17
SoundScience Fun! is an interactive sing along performance designed to explore the science of sound through the magic of music. Together we sing about strings, have a percussion discussion, ride a sound wave, and have fun! The performance invites audience participation in multiple ways: audience members are invited to sing along and “move-along” to learn more about how science is connected to our everyday lives.
Friday, April 24
Tour MIT Museum’s Gestural Engineering exhibition and find your inner engineer + artist. Participants will learn about elements of motion (gears, pulleys, linkages, and more) and combine them to produce a kinetic sculpture worthy of sharing with their peers.
Microsoft is very proud to be hosting the KSA Third Thursday as a Cambridge Science Festival Kick-off Party on Thursday, April 16, 2015. Register here.
For more information, visit cambridgesciencefestival.org or follow them on Twitter or Facebook.