Northwestern Students Hold First Splash

Over 80 students came to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL on a rainy Saturday to learn how to curl, discuss the philosophical underpinnings of videogames, make an origami chessboard, and learn about biomaterials. It was the first-ever Splash at Northwestern, held on April 3 and free to all participants through funding from Northwestern and the National Science Foundation.

Liza Plotnikov, the director of Northwestern Splash, recently graduated from MIT where she had helped direct numerous programs. Already a veteran of program leadership, Liza made use of Learning Unlimited's web support and teacher training materials.

In addition, Liza was inspired for the Northwestern program by visiting the University of Chicago's Splash earlier this fall. "I knew that I could never start up something as big at MIT Splash, but by visiting the University of Chicago and by seeing how they ran their program, I thought, 'Hey, I can do this from scratch, too.'"

Learning Unlimited Pilots Parent Program at Stanford's Spring Splash

On April 17 and 18, Learning Unlimited piloted a parallel program at Stanford Splash that was directed towards parents.

The program was designed to give useful information for families about educational opportunities, college, and balancing the pressures of teenage life, while also giving a taste of the Splash experience with classes specifically for parents on everything from black holes to improvisational acting.

The program's reception was outstanding, with 100% of parents attending saying that they would recommend the program to other parents. "The speakers are wonderful," said one parent on a survey. When asked about the worst parts of the program, "Too short!" said another. The slides from the first talk on finding additional opportunities for your student, as well as the overall schedule of events, is now available on our website:
http://www.learningu.org/parents/

In addition, Stanford Splash had a record high attendance, with 929 students, up from 650 students earlier this year. Stanford Splash also provided free transportation to about 100 students from underserved high schools.

University of Chicago Splash hosts Education Conference "Ripple"

The students who organize Splash at the University of Chicago gathered over a hundred hundred teachers, community members, students, and leaders in education to discuss the role of creativity in learning as part of an innovative new conference called "Ripple."

Featured speakers included MIT professor Sanjoy Mahajan who advocates an approach to teaching math based on estimation instead of rote memorization, Tim King, the founder of the Urban Prep charter school network in Chicago (which had 100% of its students gain acceptance to a four-year college last year), and Tim Knowles, the John Dewey Director of the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago.

What We're Reading

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Upcoming Programs

June 30-August 12 — Junction at MIT, Cambridge, MA. College-level classes on a variety of topics, Monday-Thursday evenings. $600, financial aid available. Application required.

July 11-August 22 — HSSP at MIT, Cambridge, MA. Continuing classes every Sunday on a wide variety of topics. $20, fee waivers available.

October 2 — Splash at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Free.

November 13-14 — Splash at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. $40, fee waivers available.

November 20-21 — Splash at MIT, Cambridge, MA. $30, fee waivers available.

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