Summer Student Programming

Students with their models of the Hubble Space Telescope

This summer, Dyer Observatory is excited to offer a new lineup of engaging programs for a wide range of ages! These half-day and full-day activities will feature some of our most popular summer camp projects along with brand-new experiences focused on astronomy and space science.

While we are not hosting our traditional summer camps for rising 5th through 8th graders this year, our expanded programming continues our decades-long tradition of inspiring curiosity through science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).

Activities

Getting to Mars in One Piece

Ages: Rising grades 5-8

Dates:

June 11, 9 a.m.–Noon
June 13, 9 a.m.–Noon

Explore the ways NASA has successfully touched down landers and rovers on the Red Planet over the years. Build your own to see if you can successfully bring an egg-astronaut, or egg-naut, safely back to Earth.

Additional Details

Getting to another planet is no mean feat. Through the innovation and dedication of thousands of people, humankind has been able to successfully get rovers and landers to Mars. In this workshop, students will explore many of the ways landers and rovers have successfully touched down on Mars over the years. Students will learn to design and create their own lander that, if designed and constructed well, will successfully keep a fragile egg astronaut (“egg-onaut)” in one piece when it is released from a significant height.

The Deep Freeze

Ages: Rising grades 5-8

Dates:

June 17, 9 a.m.–Noon
June 20, 9 a.m.–Noon

Engage in activities and demos dealing with the realm of the very cold including making models of comets with dry ice, using liquid nitrogen to demonstrate the power of superconductivity, and making ice-cream without the use of ice or a refrigerator.

Additional Details

Nothing beats a hot summer day like a cool refreshment, and science has your back! In this half-day workshop, students will engage with activities and demonstrations that explore the realm of the very cold. First, students will learn about the dirty snowballs from space we call comets and then make their own realistic models using materials commonly found in real comets. Next, students will experience even colder demonstrations using liquid nitrogen to show properties of superconductivity and how behaviors of certain materials change when subjected to frigid temperatures. Our day finishes with an ice cream treat that is not made the old-fashioned way - we’ll use liquid nitrogen to whip up a batch in just a couple of minutes!

Making the Invisible Visible

Ages: Rising grades 5-8

Dates:

June 26, 9 a.m.–Noon
June 27, 9 a.m.–Noon

In this half-day workshop, participants will explore the various types of light we can and cannot see, what information that light provides to astronomers, and how astronomers decode that information.

Additional Details

You might think that astronomers learn all there is to know about the universe by strapping a digital camera to a telescope and taking a picture. However, your best digital camera will completely miss most of the light that objects in the universe produce, light that your eyes can’t even see. In this workshop, we will uncover light in its various forms, what different types of light enable astronomers to see, and how information encoded in light itself has been deciphered by astronomers over the years. Students will even have the opportunity to try their hands at decoding light’s secrets through hands-on activities.

Telescopes & Technology

Ages: Rising grades 5-8

Date:

July 11, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Explore how telescopes work, build a functional small-scale model of the world-renowned Hubble Space Telescope, and get an introduction to micro-electronics and programming. Participants of the day-long workshop will also receive an Arduino microcontroller kit to take home to continue creating projects using the skills learned at Dyer.

Additional Details

During this day-long workshop, students will explore the world of telescopes and learn how they work, including a visit to Dyer’s historic Seyfert Telescope. Students will then learn about the Hubble Space Telescope and build a 1/12 scale model. To make the models extra realistic, students will be introduced to the world of micro-electronics and programming and will incorporate their own electronic components (including microcontrollers, motors, solar panels, transceivers, and cameras) into the Hubble models. To further inspire, students will receive their own Arduino microcontroller kit to to take home to continue creating their own projects with the skills they learn in the workshop.

Registration

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