After School Science

for Middle School

Not just any science program.  We explore the world through the lens of science.  You know the basics now...Let's APPLY it!

OTB Labs provides after school clubs- We bring the lab to your school for a 5 week series of 90 minute workshops that take scientific concepts and apply them to real world problems.  Amidst the pandemic we are offering virtual assemblies as well as our Remote Lab Interactives for schools and students. Contact us for options on how to get hands-on kits to your students and remote livestream labs as part of their curriculum for the 2020-2021 year.

Cost for 5 week program: $100/student

Just of few of the concepts to be explored:

Radiation and Light and Color

We all know what light is, but did you know that not all light is visible?  Radio waves, X rays and other electromagnetic radiation are also considered forms of light and we investigate them all, as well as optical illusions, light, holograms and eye anatomy.

Friction

                Friction can be our friend or friction can be a real pain, but like it or not, it is something we must deal with when moving parts or objects are involved.  When you use the brakes on a bicycle, you are using friction to your advantage.  When you fall off the bicycle and get a nasty case of road-rash, friction is to blame.  Here we investigate the science behind friction and the lubricants that engineers use to reduce friction…then we build and operate a hovercraft to test our understanding. 

Microbes are our friends…more often than we might think

                Check out the world of microscopic life with us!  You will find out how to grow bacteria and fungi, learn to operate a microscope and make slides and figure out how to identify some of our single-celled microbial neighbors.  We then develop and test methods of removing microbes from water and explore ways to test the purity of our product. 

Green Chemistry and Extractions

                How do you get a pure sample of a chemical?  Most likely by using a technique called “Extraction” to remove other unwanted compounds or impurities.  We investigate ways to purify organic compounds using environmentally friendly reactants and solvents and unique techniques that are at the forefront of modern chemistry. 

It’s Getting Hot in Here…The Science of Heat

                Heat…You can’t get enough of it in winter, yet you can’t seem to get away from in in the summer.  Why don’t we learn to put that heat to good use?  From generating heat energy to using heat to drive an engine and fly a hot air balloon, we’ve got it covered in this hot workshop. 

Motors and Generators

                Energy cannot be created or destroyed but it can change forms.  Motors harness energy and convert it to motion.  We build our own motors in this workshop and then we reverse the equation and add motion to get an energy output.  The results are somewhat shocking! 

Waves

                When you think of waves you probably picture the surf at your favorite beach destination, but we take it a little bit further here.  Waves are pulses of energy that propagate through a medium and we experiment with different types of waves and different media as we discover how to harness the energy of waves.  

Electricity and Bioelectricity

                The human brain is often likened to a supercomputer, using electrical and chemical signals to store and process information.  But our bodies, and those of most animals use electricity to keep them running as well – From the ticking of the heart to the flexing of your muscles, electricity, chemistry and biology are closely intertwined in applications from medicine to car batteries.  In this workshop we learn how living things conduct electrical signals, how charged particles generate and store electricity and how batteries can be made from exotic chemicals or from fruits and vegetables.  You even get to play the part of Dr. Frankenstein as you make frog legs kick and turn a cockroach into a dancer!