Minds in Motion Remote and In-Person Workshops
School/Organization Workshops
Is your school or organization looking for curricular connecting STEM workshops for your students?
Minds in Motion offers a variety of STEM workshops both virtually and in-person for pre-K to grade 12. Thanks to specific funding we are able to offer up to 6 free workshops a class/group a year! 6 not quite enough? Please reach out! We can offer extra workshops for a fee.
To find out more about our programs or inquire about booking out of city workshops, please email: workshops@mindsucalgary.ca.
Simple Machine Masterpieces
Requires: Outdoor space or room that can be configured to have open floor space for painting.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: Pre K- 3
Is it possible to turn simple machines into masterpieces? We think so! In this activity, students will get hands on with ramps, levers, pulleys and more as they experiment with motion, force and paint! Get ready to fling, roll, spin and pour creativity onto a canvas as we discover the “A” in STEAM!
Monster Medics: Code a Cure
Requires: N/A
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: Pre K-3
How many different hats can your students wear? In this workshop, they will become part bioengineer, part software engineer and part monster-doctor while investigating the question “what is a code”? We will learn all about how codes are like an instruction manual in living things and robots while your students design their own monsters and code an Ozobots journey around their creature, checking to make sure they are healthy!
Once Upon a Mind
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on and space to move around in.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: K- 3
Once upon a time, a brave robot named Sphero set off on a quest to uncover the secrets of the seasons, but they can’t do it alone! Can your students code Spheros' way around the world, helping them visit snowfilled wonderlands, plant-packed plains, and everything in between, all the while learning how different cultures and countries experience the seasons! If your class is ready to fall into a fairy tale, then grab your compass and let’s get coding!
Code the Current
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: K- 3
Do your little learners have big imaginations? Come swim into a Scratch Jr journey where students can learn the basics of coding and computational thinking, all while exploring how living things move! Can your fish shrink while it zig and zags around a reef, slowly spin underneath a sunken ship, or dive backwards to hit new depths? In this workshop, the ocean surface is the limit!
Coordinate Captains
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 1- 6
Calling all coders, cartographers, and circuit constructors! In this swashbuckling STEM adventure, students will explore maps, graphs and ordered pairs as they plot out a pirate journey filled with monsters, treasure and traps! Then they will bring their creations to life with circuits and code, challenging crewmates to set sail, uncover creatures, and unlock the treasure!
Reef Rescue: Reduce, Reuse, Rebuild
Requires: It is recommended that participants bring in recycling materials from home!
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 2- 6
Turn your trash into treasure as we tumble into the wonderful world of sustainability engineering! This workshop will ignite your students' passion for reducing, reusing and repurposing everyday materials to solve real world environmental problems as they build an artificial coral reef! Grab your snorkel, recyclables, and reference guide of the engineering design process as we rebuild the reefs!
Mixed Up Material Model
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 2- 6
How does an Artificial Intelligence Model know what I want to say next? Or sort cats from dogs? Let’s find out together! Participants will work through a series of physical property experiments on two unknown substances to collect data. They’ll then use their findings to explore and understand the critical role ‘good’ data/collection has on effective A.I models by training one themselves! Come along and put your lab coat on as we sort out the Mixed Up Material Model!
AI in the Hive
Requires: WiFi, A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 3- 6
Can your students “bee” the change? This workshop will get learners excited to explore the math behind nature’s favorite shape and engineer the ultimate beehive! Students will use their colony creation to train a Machine Learning Model that can identify when their fuzzy friends are too hot or cold, buzzing their way towards a sustainable future aided by AI!
States of Scratch
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 3- 6
Are your students ready to program, play and power up a particle? Come code an interactive game in Scratch where the goal is to collect energy, converting a solid to a liquid, and then a gas! Along the way, discover computational thinking terminology and techniques that allow game designers to create the programs people love!
Creature Coders
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 3- 6
Let’s get your students leaping out of their desks and running, swimming and flying into claws, scales and fangs as they design a never before seen creature! Exercising their biology brains, participants will ensure their animal has all the features it needs to adapt to its environment, before bringing it to life with Sphero robots and code! If your class is ready to move beyond pictures and videos of animals and ecosystems into observing and controlling real ones right in front of them, then step into the wild and become creature coders!
Accessibility AI-mplified
Requires: WiFi, A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 3- 6
Are your students ready to access the power of AI, and learn how this technology can create a more inclusive and barrier free future for all? Come join us in a machine-learning and Micro:bit fuelled festival, where students will train an AI model to recognize their arm movements, and write the code for their own motion-powered music, creating an accessible platform that people of all abilities can enjoy! Grab your creativity, code and concert tickets while we compose a world full of rhythm!
Minds in M-Ocean
Requires: Wifi, A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 120 minutes
Recommended Grades: 4-9
What languages do your learners know how to speak? English, French, Welsh or Farsi? How about whale? In this workshop, students will train a machine-learning model on vocalizations to mimic whale codas, code a LEGO SPIKE submarine to respond to their calls, and engineer a cleanup-contraption to restore the ocean floor! Is your robotic whale whisperer ready to follow these creatures commands and navigate the waters between AI and conservation?
Moo-ving into the Future
Requires: N/A
Runtime: 60 minutes
Recommended Grades: 4-9
Can your students design the farm of the future? In this workshop, learners will prototype, code and customize their very own smart farm fuelled by experimentation with sensors, motors and micro:bits! In an activity with no right answer or approach, it’s up to participants to tinker, test and troubleshoot their way through a transformation from following step-by-step instructions, to independently designing and implementing block-coding programs! Let’s get ready to branch out, break ground and grow some coding confidence!
Musical Micro-Bits
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 90 minutes
Recommended Grades: 7-12
What’s that noise? Oh! The sound of your students getting hands on with coding and game design concepts! Participants will work to understand, troubleshoot and expand a ‘match the notes’ style rhythm game using block coding and Micro:Bits! From conditionals to lists and all the coding concepts in between, by the end of 90 minutes your group will be jamming along to their own songs on their custom games!
Arduinos vs Aliens
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 120 minutes
Recommended Grades: 7-12
The safety of the solar system is in your students' breadboard and microcontroller filled hands! In this action-packed workshop, participants will explore circuits and code using Arduinos, LED lights, buzzers, buttons and servo motors to alien-proof a spaceship destined for Mars!
The Tinker Tank
Requires: WiFi, A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 120 minutes
Recommended Grades: 7-12
Brainstorm, blueprint, budget and build a device to tackle a modern problem facing Canadians as students break into the field of engineering! Learners will explore the design process as they perfect prototypes with Tinkercad software before bringing them to life using materials from our portable makerspace in this open-ended engineering design challenge! If your learners are ready to start practicing the real world applications of all that STEM knowledge they have been tallying up, then take a trip to the Tinker Tank!
Python Pattern Lab
Requires: A Projector/Screen/Wall to project on.
Runtime: 120 minutes
Recommended Grades: 7- 12
What if the math your students explore could transform itself into mind-bending graphic art straight out of a movie set? In this workshop, learners will fall into the world of software engineering and graphic design as they code their way through a Python program to make fractal art! They will experiment with the mathematical concepts underlying these shapes, such as angles, scales, and recursion while they write, iterate and debug their own code for a fractal! If your students are ready to discover how today’s math and computer science class are tomorrow's Dr. Oz or Antman, then take a peek into the Python pattern lab!