Workshops

Workshops

Times: earliest 10:00 a.m., latest 3:00 p.m.
Days: M-F
Number of Students: up to 25, with additional fees for more students
Length: 1.5 hours (middle school), 2 hours (high school) – length can be tailored to the needs of a class
Fee: $150 for up to 25 students ($3.00 per additional student up to 30 students) and $7.50 per adult (1 chaperone admitted free per 8 students). Includes admission to the MIT Museum galleries.

We welcome inquiries about workshops for teacher, adult and senior (age 65+) groups. Please call the Museum’s Receptionist at 617.253.5927 for prices.

Registration information

Workshops Offered: Robotics - Programming Mindstorms | Structural Engineering - Why Towers Stand Up and Bridges Don't Fall Down | DNA Learning Lab; DNA and Proteins | DNA Learning Lab: Protein Synthesis | Lab Link

Robotics – Programming Mindstorms (middle and high school)

Explore what makes a robot tick in this introduction to programming robots. Students use the Lego Mindstorms NXT and NXT-G Programming Environment to get robots sensing, thinking, and moving about. This workshop includes a guided tour of the Robots and Beyond gallery and illustrates the development of robotics with examples from MIT research.

Structural Engineering – Why Towers Stand Up and Bridges Don't Fall Down (middle and high school)

Find out just how strong a piece of paper can be, bridge distances you'd never think possible, and see the simple geometry at the root of the longest bridges in the world in this active workshop on structural engineering. Students learn how structures stand up and work in teams to design and build bridges using recycled materials. Examples from architecture and engineering developed at MIT deepen students' appreciation of the structures all around us.

DNA Learning Lab: DNA and Proteins (middle and high school)

Within human bodies lies a complex system as elegant and efficient as any factory-protein synthesis from instructions encoded in DNA. Students use the MIT Museum's dedicated space, Learning Lab: The Cell, for a lesson about two vital biomolecules: DNA and proteins. Students will explore this fundamental basis of life with LEGO DNA kits, digital models, and guided discussion.

DNA Learning Lab: Protein Synthesis (high school only)

Students with a background in molecular biology use the MIT Museum's dedicated space, Learning Lab: The Cell, to explore transcription, translation, and protein folding. This workshop, for high school and AP Biology students, uses LEGO kits, digital and physical models, and guided discussion to explore key concepts in molecular biology.

More information about the DNA Learning Lab is available in our downloadable Learning Lab: The Cell brochure (pdf).

Lab Link (middle and high school)

Using video-conferencing technology, Lab Link programs facilitate direct engagement between scientists in their research laboratories and students at the MIT Museum. Work with the Museum’s education staff to customize a link for your students – for example, conference with the Whitehead Institute’s molecular biologists at their lab benches or brain scientists working with human subjects in the McGovern Institute’s fMRI brain scanning facility. Lab Links are subject to the availability of research scientists and must be scheduled at least one month in advance.

Registration information