Arlington Community Education

Build and tinker as you explore the basics of electricity and coding. Use real electrical components, like breadboards, LEDs, resistors, and sensors, to build creative, interactive projects. Starting with block-based coding in mBlock, you’ll write programs to control lights, play music, simulate traffic lights, and detect motion. Step by step, you’ll gain confidence using both hardware and code.

Join in entertaining and educational science experiments to gain an understanding of physics including Newton’s first, second, and third laws of motion, Newton’s law of gravity, and more. We’ll make boats and rockets, make and play with marble runs and catapults, and experiment with many other fun physics projects.

Let’s get creative with electricity! Create your own electronics, such as light-up greeting cards, electric games, mazes, and even musical instruments. Each class consists of a circuitry lesson and a hands-on electronics project using components like lights, buzzers, switches, motors, and sensors. Most class days will include a project you can take home.

Join in on some coding fun. In this self-driven and self-paced course, we will use Scratch Jr., Ozobots, and code.org to explore coding and programming concepts that will bring computer screens and inventive ideas to life. All junior coders are welcome.

Put your coding skills to the test in the world of Minecraft with fun, friendly challenges. Use everything from basic commands to more complex programming concepts to solve problems and build creative designs. Challenge yourself to design the most efficient solutions, build the most innovative creations, and emerge as the ultimate Minecraft coding champion.

Get a fun, hands-on introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Explore basic AI concepts like facial recognition, pattern detection, and machine learning using Scratch and Google’s Teachable Machine. You’ll train simple models with images, build interactive games and animations, and watch your creations respond to real-world inputs. You’ll develop skills in logic, problem-solving, and creativity while discovering how AI is shaping our world.

Step into a sparkling winter wonderland of science, because the cold never bothered us anyway! Make “frozen” slime, craft delicate six-pointed snowflakes, and create a magical indoor snowstorm. Grow shimmering frost crystals, build a snow globe that defies gravity, and design a dazzling frozen forest. Then warm up by making your own cozy hand warmers.

Craft architectural wonders into LEGO masterpieces. Dive into the world of building as you apply engineering concepts to tall towers, strong bridges, musical instruments, catapults, and more. Hands-on design, construction, and spirited competition will showcase your skills as a LEGO master.

Buckle up for an epic adventure as you explore the world of vehicles with tens of thousands of LEGO parts. Build and design fast, furious, and fantastic machines that race across land, sail on water, and soar through the skies. Learn about the engineering and design principles behind motors and gears as you take your creativity for a spin.

Power up your engineering skills with thousands of LEGO. Merge your craziest ideas with real-world concepts in physics, construction, and industrial design through projects such as catapults, dragsters with pullback motors, pendulum rides, and deluxe buildings. Design and build as never before.

Design and build your way through the animal kingdom, from sea to safari. Construct colorful habitats and bring creatures to life, from dolphins leaping through ocean waves to penguins on icy terrain and lions roaming the grasslands. Your animal adventure awaits.

Take your coding skills on an adventure by guiding a critter through challenging mazes using Scratch’s block-based coding. Program your critter to make smart, independent choices, scan the terrain, and remember the successful paths for future trips. Learn about AI and machine learning as your critter adapts and improves as you build it new challenges.

Build a solid foundation in personalized game design as you develop unique Minecraft worlds. Embark on an exciting adventure in animation and storytelling, programming in Python and Javascript, and architecture and design. Learn the fundamentals of electrical circuitry, logic gates, multi-system mechanisms, modding, and more.

Turn simple tasks into wild chain reactions. Inspired by the zany world of Rube Goldberg, you’ll design and build machines where one thing leads to another—and another! Use marbles, ramps, and everyday objects to explore momentum, timing, gravity, and force. Embrace your inventive side and see how creative your contraptions can get.

Engaging hands-on chemistry projects will encourage you to be junior scientists. Unlock the secrets of the laboratory to create customized soaps, lotions, and potions. Explore how chemists create formulas and make your own cool products to take home. Learn about chemical properties and reactions while making fizzing potions and secret solutions.

Explore the world of scientific discovery as you create a lava lamp, engineer a race car, or make a ping pong ball hang in the air. You may stir up invisible ink, create a volcanic eruption, or build a Newton’s Cradle. We’ll discuss the development and application of various scientific principles and build our science vocabulary using illustrations and handouts that you can use to recreate your experiments at home.

Get ready to mix, bubble, build, and explore with hands-on science experiments that spark your curiosity and creativity. You’ll make slime to learn about states of matter, build mini-volcanoes, launch paper rockets, test what sinks or floats, create simple circuits, make rainbow celery, explore the magic of magnets, and more. Ready, set, experiment!

Explore the real-world science behind your favorite superheroes. Investigate magnetism, gravity, forces, animal adaptations, projectile motion, and more through hands-on projects and creative challenges. From defying gravity to shapeshifting, you’ll discover how these superpowers work while expressing your creativity through art, engineering, and experimentation.

Build and re-engineer components of everyday objects and recycled materials into your own cool inventions. We’ll explore physics concepts and engineering skills as we design and build marble mazes, ziplines, animated puppets, towering buildings, and more. You will be able to take some of your gadgets home too.