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Workshops

A number of new workshops are now on the calendar for the coming months. In addition to our Telescope Basics and Star-Hopping workshops, we are also planning more electronics workshops, as well as sessions about rock tumbling, rocketry, perfumery, and chemistry. Take a look at the list below, or check out the Events Calendar to see what fits into your schedule!

Chemistry | Electronics | Robotics | Rocks and Minerals | Rocketry

Chemistry: Liberating the Elements!

Date:

Saturday, July 24, 2 pm – 4pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 14+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $15
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Reprising an exciting workshop we recently High School Students’ Science Alliance (HSSSA), we will liberate chemical elements from the elements’ compounds. By “liberating” we mean actually freeing the elements from their compounds. We will liberate silver (two different ways), chlorine gas, iodine, sulfur, carbon and iron. If we have time we’ll liberate hydrogen, oxygen and others. Participants will be encouraged to bring an empty, colorful wine bottle with a cork stopper. In addition, participants should have their own aprons and safety glasses or goggles. We will provide all chemicals and rubber gloves.

Chemistry: Perfume Workshop

Dates:

Thursday, June 17, 7 – 9 pm Workshop Full!
Thursday, August 12, 7 – 9 pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 16+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $25
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Join us for a fun evening as we explore the world of perfumes. We will learn about the basics of making beautiful scents using essential oils. Each participant will make three different personal perfumes.

Electronics: Discover Electronics!

Date:

Saturday, 10 April 2010; 12 - 3pm
Saturday, 22 May 2010; 12 - 3pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 10+
Cost: $10
Additional Cost: $49.99 kit fee for the Discover Electronics kit
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: This workshop is designed to acquaint participants with the basic principles and components of electronics. Participants will build an electric circuit and build several simple projects using LEDs, resistors capacitors, buttons and switches, potentiometers, photoresistors, transistors, and integrated circuits all the while learning how things work! The Kit includes everything needed for these and future electronics projects and includes an excellent instruction manual.

Electronics: Introduction to the Arduino

Date:

Sunday, 23 May 2010; 1 - 4pm
Sunday, 6 June 2010; 1 - 4pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 12+
Workshop Fee: $15
Additional Fees: $35 for the Arduino, $15 for additional components, including breadboard
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: This workshop will give you the basics for using/programming the Arduino Duemilanove, a small circuit board that contains a whole computer on a small chip. Arduino is an open source physical computing platform based on a simple input/output (I/O) Board. We will use some basic electronics tools (a breadboard, wire, LEDs) with our Arduino to build and program some very simple interactive devices. The basics we learn in this workshop will be the basis for future workshops using motorshields, LCD devices, and other Arduino projects. Please bring your own USB cable and laptop computer.

Electronics: Minty Boost: Build Your Own USB Battery-Pack and Re-charger

Dates:

Saturday, 8 May 2010; 1 - 4pm
Saturday, 29 May 2010; 1 - 4pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 12+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $35 (includes MintyBoost kit)
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: At this workshop we will build a Minty Boost Re-Charger. This is a popular kit to build and a great way to keep your iPhone, iPod, Arduiono and other USB powered devices powered up. Everything is designed to fit nicely into an Altoids chewing gum tim. This oldering workshop is a good introduction to soldering that will help you become comfortable using a soldering iron to tackle other electronic projects. This workshop is suitable for beginners, but does require some soldering. Bring your own soldering tools and Altoids gum tin to hold your charger.At this workshop we will build a Minty Boost Re-Charger. This is a popular kit to build and a great way to keep your iPhone, iPod, Arduiono and other USB powered devices powered up. Everything is designed to fit nicely into an Altoids chewing gum tim. This oldering workshop is a good introduction to soldering that will help you become comfortable using a soldering iron to tackle other electronic projects. This workshop is suitable for beginners, but does require some soldering. Bring your own soldering tools and Altoids gum tin to hold your charger.

Electronics: Arduino MotorShield

Date:

Sunday, 16 May; 1 - 4pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 14+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $15
Additional Fees: $23 for the Adafruit Arduino MotorShield
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: At this workshop we will assemble a full-featured motor shield for use with the Arduino. We will learn how to program the Arduino so that the motor shield will be able to power many simple to medium-complexity projects.

You will need to bring your Arduino and bread board for prototyping. If possible, bring your laptop computer and USB cable for programming the Arduino.

Electronics: Arduino 3-Day Workshop

Dates:

Wednesday - Friday, 14 - 16 July 2010; 2 - 5pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 12+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $45
Additional Fees: $35 for the Arduino, if needed (other supplies will be available)
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: This is an intensive three day workshop to build and program the Arduino. We will be doing several different projects.

Electronics Summer Camp

Dates:

Tuesday - Friday, 15 - 18 June 2010; 9am - 1pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 12+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $100
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: At this workshop we learn the fundamentals of electronics in a fun, hands-on way. We will explore all of the key components and essential principles through a series of experiments. You'll use -- and understand -- electronics concepts and techniques.

Robotics Workshop: LEGO Mindstorms NXT for Beginners

Dates:

Saturday, 24 April 2010; 1 - 4pm
Friday, 11 June 2010; 1 - 4pm Workshop Full!

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 9+
Workshop Fee: $25
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: This is a workshop designed for students wanting to learn the basics of building and programming of the Mindstorms NXT Robot Kit. We will build a rolling robot (learning about motors, gears, etc.) and then do some basic programming to make our robot move. It is a great workshop if you have a new NXT kit or are considering purchasing a kit.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own kits. However, we have a limited supply of store kits available to use for the workshop on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure to tell us if you want to reserve a store kit.

Robotics Workshop: LEGO Mindstorms NXT (Intermediate)

Dates:

Friday, 25 June 2010; 1 - 4pm
Friday, 9 July 2010; 1 - 4pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 9+, with some NXT building and programming experience.
Workshop Fee: $25
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: These two workshops will concentrate on using sensors and programming of the NXT Mindstorms Robot kit. Each workshop will feature a different project focusing on more complicated building and programming activities.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own kits. However, we have a limited supply of store kits available to use for the workshop on a first-come, first-served basis. Be sure to tell us if you want to reserve a store kit.

Rocks and Minerals: Rock Tumbling for Beginners Workshop

Date:

Saturday, 5 June 2010; 1 - 3pm Thanks for coming!

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 10+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $20
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Do you want to unlock the mysteries of rock tumbling? Trying to make sense of the manual, and need some direction? Do you want to take some of those stones that you've been accumulating and see if you can make something beautiful out of them? Join us for a discussion and demonstration of the hobby of rock tumbling. Learn about picking out your tumbler, choosing grits and polishes, how to select stones for tumbling, rock and mineral hardnesses and how they impact your tumbling, caring for your tumbler, cleaning and burnishing, and much more. Mr Nedblake is a long-time mineral collector, new tumbler enthusiast, and willing to help you to profit from his mistakes, as well as what he's managed to learn about rock tumbling. The class fee includes a batch of high quality rough for tumbling in your own tumbler at home.

Rocks and Minerals: Mineral Identification Workshop

Date:

Saturday, 14 August 2010; 1 - 3pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 10+ and Adults
Workshop Fee: $20
Convener: William Nedblake, HMS Beagle Staff
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Join us for a workshop to discuss and practice methods for identifying minerals. We'll learn about the basics of mineral identification, including how minerals are chemically grouped, and what those groupings can help you to determine about those mysterious minerals in your collection. Discussions and demonstrations of acid testing, streak testing, flame testing, hardness testing, blowpipe testing, and more. A more ambitious set of chemical experiments, and a discussion of the reagents involved in the chemical analysis of minerals, is planned for this year. We're hoping to have a lot of fun, so if you're interested in rocks and minerals, come out and join us!

The registration fee includes a mineral testing kit.

Rockets: Beginner’s Rocket Building Workshop

Dates:

Saturday, 17 July 2010; 1 - 3pm
Tuesday, 20 July 2010; 1 - 3pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 10+
Workshop Fee: $20 (includes rocket kit)
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Join us for these Rocket Building Workshops and build your own Estes Model Rocket. While building our rockets, we will learn about the basics of aerodynamics. This is a great time to get your rocket ready for The Beagle’s Annual October Skies (Rocket Science Day), scheduled this year for Saturday, October 2.

Rockets: Advanced Rocket Building Workshop

Dates:

Saturday, 31 July 2010; 1 - 3pm

Details:

Suitable for: Students Aged 12+, who have had experience building simple rockets
Workshop Fee: $25 (includes rocket kit)
Seats Available: 10
RSVP: Required to confirm your seat, please email or telephone 816-587-9998

Description: Join us for these Rocket Building Workshops and build your own Estes Model Rocket. While building our rockets, we will learn about the basics of aerodynamics. This is a great time to get your rocket ready for The Beagle’s Annual October Skies (Rocket Science Day), scheduled this year for Saturday, October 2.

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We like email! If there's a workshop that you'd like to see us host, drop us a line using the information on the Contact Information page.

Made 1 August 2008
Updated 4 June 2010.