Pathways: Middle School Workshop

We  invite all middle schoolers in grades 6-8 to our Pathways program. With  these workshops, home school students will design, build, and test new  challenges every week. These challenges will help students explore  career pathways across STEM disciplines. Each month in our workshops  we'll explore a new topic. At every session, students can expect a fun  and different lesson from week to week. Each session builds off one  another, so it is recommended students attend all sessions for the  month.

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Classes scheduled every 2nd & 4th Wednesday

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

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Cost per session: 

$25 nonmember

$20 member

Book both lessons for 1 month at the same time and receive 10% off the total price (please call us at 850-664-1261 to receive this discount)

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Sign up via our events page or call 850-664-1261. Please bring a completed registration form with you to your child's first workshop or email it to website@ecscience.org.

Cancellation & Refund Policy

Cancellations made 48 hours or more in advance of the event date will incur a 10% administrative fee. Cancellations made within 48 hours of the event will incur a 30% administrative fee. There will be no refunds offered for missed classes without notice.

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Upcoming Workshops 2023-2024

September and October - Entomology

These sessions will introduce students to the world of insects, as they develop an understanding of their incredible diversity, and learn how to pin these amazing creatures. These sessions build off each other.

• 9/13 Insect Classification & Ant Picnic: Learn the basis of how to classify insects and conduct an experiment on ant behavior.
• 9/27 Life Cycles of Pests & Beneficial Insects: Students will explore the yard for various stages of insects and discuss why some are considered pests and some beneficial.
• 10/11 Create an Insect Collection: Students will learn how to safely collect and pin a variety of different insects.
• 10/25 Create an Insect Collection Continued: Session continued from the one before. Collections will either be to take home or leave at the center for display.

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November, December, and January - Chemistry

Discover the magic of chemistry as students explore the fascinating world of atoms, elements, and chemical reactions through engaging hands-on experiments and demonstrations. These sessions build off each other but will be different experiments each time.

• 11/8 The Periodic Table of Elements:  An introduction to chemistry with a project to follow where they will design their own periodic table.
• 11/15* Edible Chemistry Lab: Students will conduct experiments on the reactions, properties, and transformations that occur in the kitchen.
• 12/13 Polymer Lab: Students will conduct experiments to determine what makes the best slime, bouncy ball and much more.
• 12/27: No class due to the holidays.
• 1/10 pH & Electrolysis Lab: Students will conduct experiments to determine the pH properties of various materials and set up an electrolysis device to observe gas.

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January, February, and March - Dash Robot Coding

Can you code it? Students will use Dash the Robot to complete a new coding challenge each session. These sessions build off each other but will be different experiments each time.

• 1/24 Introduction to Dash & Farm Animal Noise Machine Challenge: In this puzzle, students will get an introduction lesson on Dash and then program it to act out different animals when Dash’s head is moved left, right, up, and down.
• 2/14 Basketball Challenge: Students will test and investigate the best settings that can be used with the launcher to accurately make the basket while practicing measuring and data collecting.
• 2/28 Scientists Biography Timeline Challenge: Students will research and develop a timeline depicting a scientist’s life, then code their robots to go through the timeline and tell the story of the scientist's life.
• 3/13 Forces of Attraction: Dash will help students conduct a scientific experiment to find out which objects are more magnetic than others and how magnets interact with each other.

March, April, and May - Simple Machines

Students will explore the world of simple machines by constructing and experimenting with levers, pulleys, inclined planes, and more, to understand the principles behind these fundamental tools of mechanics. These sessions build off each other.

• 3/27 Wheeling It In!: Design and build a vehicle that will carry a load.
• 4/10 Moving Water: Students will design their own well using pulleys and explore how to move water with a screw like design.
• 4/24 Rube Goldberg Challenge: Students will design and build a Rube Goldberg machine that uses all 6 simple machines.
• 5/8 Rube Goldberg Challenge Continued: Session continued from the one before. Machine will be made to take home.

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*Holiday schedule