courses

GREEN MACHINE: Sustainable Engineering & Mechanics in Motion

This ZettaTech series explores the art of eco-friendly design and the science of engineering in practice. Green Machine focuses on projects engaging with alternative energy systems and  putting those power sources to good use. We explore human power, wind power, turbine-generated electricity, and photovoltaic solar systems while we build creations of all sorts. Our projects are intentionally open-ended so that students can make according to their abilities and interests. The class is best suited for grades 2-5 due to its mechanical complexity, but we also have a modified K-2 curriculum.

ROBOTO PICASSO: Artistic LEGO Robotics

This program embodies the “Art Through Science” ethic of ZettaTech. Students get to participate in all aspects of robotics: designing, building, and programming. The design process is all about imagination, the act of building is a practice of experimentation and hands-on engagement, and the programming is done using a simple ‘drag-and-drop’ language that a first-grader can use. We use sound, light, ultrasonic, and other sensors to make autonomous ‘bots!. Roboto Picasso is a future-friendly series of ZettaTech Science classes. Come and build your own Wall-E!

GREEN DRAG RACING: Carbon-Free Transportation

Green Machine is unabashedly about cars, velocity, and sustainable energy systems. Students will build momentum-mobiles, sail cars, crank cars, solar drag racers, and other creations that move without using fossil fuels. While Green Drag Racing does have conceptual overlap with Green Machine, this series has more opportunities for racing, a dedicated focus on transportation, and it can more easily accommodate younger kids. Students will learn about momentum, structural reinforcement, photovoltaic solar, and other scientific phenomena. Green Drag Racing is intended for grades 1-3 or 3-5, but it can also work for Kindergartners and 6th graders.

THE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT: LEGO Engineering at its Finest

This program is a LEGO rendering of the human need to build and make. It’s all about teaching kids foundational principles of engineering by having them re-create some of the world’s greatest feats of construction. We will build skyscrapers, pyramids, statues, bridges, a shadow-puppet skyline, and so much more. It’s all about project-based learning, collaboration, and building. We have K-2nd and 2nd-4th iterations of The Artchitecture Project.

TODDLER TECH: Youngest Makers Unite!

This art-and-science extravaganza is full of projects for creative kids and their caregivers. It deals with concepts from colors and shapes to chromatography and plant anatomy. Each class has multiple projects, so it is suitable for a range of ages and developmental stages. We create paper from recycled junk mail, build our own instruments, make non-newtownian liquids, bind books, and all sorts of other DIY fun. Toddler Tech projects are best suited for ages 3-5, but can also accommodate +/- 1 year. Come enjoy an educational day of crafting and making with your little one.

FLIGHT!: Aerodynamics in Action

Flight! is the newest series in ZettaTech’s programming, and as the title might suggest, its all about making things fly. We will design, create, and test all sorts of flying things. Whether its paper airplanes, balsa wood planes, or a near-space balloon launch, you can bet that these projects will provide hands-on experience with the physics of aerodynamics. Flight! is our most flexible course- it can accomadte grades K-4, taught at a High School level, and everywhere in between.

ANCIENT ART: The Science of Traditional Culture

The Spinning Wheel in the center of the Indian flag is not accidental- Gandhi himself believed that cottage industries were the key to Indian independence.In this workshop, we will reproduce the techniques of Rajastani textile engineers to create our own tapestries. Like the traditional textile makers, we work as a community to make our designs. It’s all about culture, tradition, symmetry, and the science of pigments. At the end, students will take home a tapestry produced through their unique input and co-operation with their peers.

GEOCACHING: A GPS Treasure Hunt

Become a modern-day treasure hunter in this ZettaTech Science program. GPS technology has spawned a subculture full of secret caches, cryptic clues, mathematical puzzles, and all sorts of tech-savvy adventure. We teach the core components of geocaching: how to use handheld GPS devices or use apps for smartphones to find caches, how to make your own geocache, how to put it on the map, and how to get feedback from the international community of GPS treasure hunters!

MISSION CONTROL: DIY Near-Space Photography

From our collaboration with Techsplosion comes Mission Control: a real-time excursion into outer-space with a weather balloon! We have participants design their own space-crafts, plot the possible route of the launch with the Cambridge Launch Predictor, install a GPS messenger that gives us real-time updates on the craft’s location in space, and retrieve the payload upon parachute descent with photos like you see on the left! It is a truly INCREDIBLE experience. Your child can touch outer-space: we provide the launchpad and they make it fly.

New for 2013-2014!

GREEN HOME:  LEGO Sustainable Home Architecture

Build a green, sustainable home! In this workshop, we identify all the essential aspects to a living space- places to eat, sleep, socialize- and design our Dream Green Homes! We incorporate aspects of architecture, mount working solar panels on the roof and wind-turbines in the yard, design working appliances, and use trusses and pitching to build house frames, floors, roofs and other features of our living spaces! We generate all energy to run our homes sustainably- real solar panels, wind and water power, deep-well batteries and green engineering!