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Making Science Fun

The Cambridge Science Festival will offer more than 150 public events for children, teens, and adults; most are free.

The first science festival in the United States opens April 21 thanks to the MIT Museum, which is leading a coalition—including MIT, Harvard, the City of Cambridge and its public schools and libraries, the Museum of Science, and public broadcasting—that will present nine days of fun and learning.

The Cambridge Science Festival, a celebration of science in a city world famous for invention, will offer more than 150 public events for children, teens, and adults; most are free. Activities ranging from performances such as "Einstein's Dreams" at MIT to a Pre-school Professors workshop where kids will make ice cream and polymers to a walk through the world's largest Origami Geodesic Dome.

The opening event, a Science Carnival set for April 21, noon-5 p.m. at Cambridge City Hall, will feature dozens of ways to get your hands wet. Match wits with high school students to solve energy problems, learn how to turn corn into sustainable paper cups, experience a dynamic chain reaction catapult, find out about the Boston Harbor Islands micro-wilderness, and kick the tires of five alternative energy cars.

Not on campus? Tune in to NPR's live ScienceFriday broadcast April 27 and WGBH television programming including a Science City Summit on April 25. The companion Web site will feature festival events, audio and video features, and interactive tools and quizzes. The WGBH Forum will archive the lectures.

By Nancy DuVergne Smith

March 28, 2007