Please refer to the Classes Page for updated dates/times for Classes being held from February-April 2013.

Upcoming STEAM Community Events:

Thursday, February 21-Falk Elementary School 6-8pm
Saturday, March 2-O’Keeffe Middle School 9am-12pm
Saturday, March 9-Super Science Saturday at Randall Elementary School 9am-12pm
Friday, April 5-Sunday, April 7-Science Expeditions at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Thursday, April 25-Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monona 6-8pm
Thursday, April 25th-Science Symposium 8:30am-2pm

Fractal has been busy this summer working in the Madison community and with participants during the Summer Sessions.

We spent Tuesday afternoons for 7 weeks at The Goodman Community Center working with two different groups of children. Each week we discussed a different topic related to science and math and had lots of fun creating a mess while learning. Some of the experiments the kids enjoyed the most were: Mentos & Dt. Coke (Chemical Reactions), Gooblek & Fake Snot (phase change), and Building Boats (Surface Area). These kids were fantastic to work with! They all had to make the tough decision of going on a field trip or staying to do “Fractal Science” and ever week we had kids so excited to get into the experiments and go more in depth with experiments than were expected.

We built mini catapults at a couple of new community events this summer.We were at O’Keeffe Middle School’s Saturday Super Science, Explorando las Ciencias part of the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Discoveries outreach at Warner Park, and were part of Monona Public Library’s Dream Big Summer Library Program Finale. At each event we worked with over 75 participants to build a catapult with limited directions, testing hypotheses and outcomes, discuss Newton’s Laws, and support creativity and individualism for their build outcomes and expectations.

Camp Badger, part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Engineering Camp, came out with 2 different groups of participants to explore Sector67, build catapults, and work together to create a game using their catapults and a HUGE target board.

We look forward to working with all of these community members in the future!

Fall/Winter Sessions will be posted soon!

Fractal will again be teaming with the Goodman Community Center to work with their summer program. We are excited to be working with them again and looking forward to see the kid’s reactions and learning during the summer!

Fractal will also be holding Summer Session’s at Sector67 located at 2100 Winnebago St. Madison, from 1-3pm on Wednesday-Friday on selected dates (listed below).  Classes are $35/day for each participant and limited to 10 participants per day. Families that sign up more than 1 child will receive a 25% discount off of their total costs. Participants do not have to sign up for all 3 days of classes. Please refer to the Classes Page  for more information as to what experiments we will be conducting during these sessions (coming soon). If you have questions please email Heather at madisonfractal@gmail.com. You can register for classes via email or through the Sector67 Classes Page.

Summer Session Dates:

June 27-29
July 18-20
July 26
August 8-10
August 15-17
August 22-24

Session Activities will be posted at the latest by Friday, June 15th

To enroll your child(ren) please send an email to madisonfractal@gmail.com Prior registration is required to participate in these sessions!!! Or register via Sector67′s Classes Page

Classes will be held at Sector67-2100 Winnebago St.Madison, WI from 1-4pm next week.

Sessions are $50/day or $200/week

Monday
We’ll be visiting the Madison Children’s Museum to do a walk through with exhibit designers and participating in exhibits to discuss the science/math that goes into exhibit designing. They’re also looking for feedback from the kids as to how to make the museum more older kid friendly.

Tuesday
Mummifying Apples isn’t just for ancient civilizations. We’ll be discussing how and why ancient civilizations mummified people and animals and the science used in the process. This project takes a full week so the kids will be creating a science journal to use and take home with them. We’ll also be discussing what a Scientist does and how the Scientific Process is never ending.
We’ll also be making Jiggling Worms for our snack. This experiment will be using fruit juices to create jello jigglers to discuss phase change and the molecular makeup of the ingredients.
To finish up the day we’ll be making Recycled Paper. While this may be an activity done in art class, we’ll talk about molecular bonds and how recycling works in nature and at the Recycling Facilities.

Wednesday
Wear some clothes that can get dirty because we’ll be working in the Sector67 Garden. Gardening isn’t as easy as dig, plant, water. We’ll be prepping the soil and discussing the chemicals and “nutrition” needed to grow plants. We’ll also be taking Soil Samples from different locations around Sector67 to test the PH levels and discuss how/why samples not far apart may be different due to environmental affects.
Our snack will be Carbonated Fruit. We’ll pressurize different types of fruit pieces (you get to choose) to see how much carbonation each fruit can hold.

Thursday
We’ll be making Cheesy Candles with everyday household items. These candles will really show some Wisconsin pride!
For snack we’ll be testing our senses for Sweet & Sour. Discuss the different areas of taste buds on our tongues and how they work together to create different tasting experiences. We’ll also be discussing how sight/touch/smell work into how we perceive taste of items.
We’ll then be building boats from limited resources to have a Boat Race. Mechanical engineers work long and hard on trying to make every piece of your car, boat, lawnmower, etc.. work perfectly. The kids will have to use what they’re given to try and make a boat that will float and outpace the other boats.

Friday
Is it a solid, or a liquid?? We’ll be doing some testing of Gooblek to discuss phase change and how there really are more than 3 states of matter.
Snack is still undetermined
To end the week we’ll be blasting off Chemical Launchers. By using chemical reaction’s we’ll see who can launch their cork higher into the air.

Classes are posted for Saturday sessions during the next few months. I also will be offering Homework Help on Monday’s from 3-7pm by appointment. If Monday doesn’t work for your child but you’re still interested in help please send us an e-mail to madisonfractal@gmail.com to set up another day/time that works for you.

We held our first Spring Class over the weekend making a Joule Thief. A Joule Thief is like a mini-flashlight where we re-purpose an otherwise “dead” AA battery by stealing the remaining joules from it to light an LED. The 2 participants were in 6th and 3rd grade and had a great time learning about how the Joule Thief works, what joule’s are, and learning basic soldering skills to complete the project. The did a great job and I hope they come back again for other classes!

Unfortunately our next class isn’t until March but we hope you’ll sign-up to attend! Parents are more than welcome to stay and participate in all the classes!

Fractal will be offering a week long camp during MMSD Winter Break.

Sessions will run from 1-4 pm Monday, January 2nd-Friday, January 6th and are limited to 10 participants per day.

Parents and Participants can find out more information under the Classes Tab or email madisonfractal@gmail.com

Please check the Calendar Page for upcoming events where Fractal will be attending or participating at.

If you know of any other events going on in the Madison or surrounding Communities for kids please email madisonfractal@gmail.com and it will be added to the Calendar Page.

Erin and Heather had a great time this summer working with all the kids! We would like to send a special Thank You to the staff, leaders, and participants at Madison Schools & Community Recreation, the Goodman Community Center, and the Madison Children’s Museum!
We appreciate everything everyone has done to make sure our first summer was a success!

Plans for sessions this fall are in the works and continue to watch for updates to find out upcoming weekend sessions and further events!

A huge Thank you to our friend James Wilson for his generous donation towards Fractal’s success! Because of James, Fractal is able to fund 50+ projects that without us having to worry about asking other sponsors or parents to pay for!

We would also like to say a huge Thank you to Rayovac here in Madison! Rayovac generously donated 500 AA batteries to Fractal to help power numerous lessons teaching about electricity and other creations built by participants!