Please feel free to duplicate, emulate, and experiment with these project ideas. They have been used successfully in our Beyond 4 Walls program at Computer Clubhouses in the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and at Boston's Museum of Science Computer Clubhouse. You can use them as "idea starters" for your own informal programs. If you have comments or new ideas you'd like to share, please contact us.
Note: Some of the projects fit nicely into categories of inquiry; most cover more than one category. Some defy categorization. All are aimed at creating enthusiasm for exploration and developing basic skills of scientific inquiry: observation, measurement, hypothesis, experimentation, documentation. The following categories are an attempt to organize the projects purely for practical purposes.
Deconstruction
(What's inside your electronics?)
Push me, pull you (Static
electricity can be very "moving")
Shocking stuff and sticky
business (Shuffling shocks and clingy clothes)
Super solar power
(Harness the sun's energy)
Optics
Seeing the light: Color Mixing (Do yellow and blue always make green?)
Music, sweet music (More than just noise)
Seed
surprise (How
many seeds does that veggie have?)
We
got the [heart] beat
(What happens to your body during exercise?)
Engineering and math
Bells
and whistles
(Find out what makes things tick)
Movers and shakers
(Make a creation that really moves)
Numbers game (Keeping
track of things around you)
Chemistry
Leafy
greens (Is
that green leaf really green?)
When
red is not just red
(What other colors are hiding in your favorite ink?)
Backyard
bounty (Discover
nature around your Clubhouse)
Catch
me if you can (Measuring
wind speed)
How's
the weather?
(Observing the outside conditions in your area)
Adventures
in wilderness (Awesome
natural man-made sites around your home)
B4W
Detectives (Exploring
the unseen world; everyday object mysteries)
X marks the spot (A good adventurer
always leaves instructions for friends to follow)