Workshops

Inspire interest in science, technology, engineering, and art in students grades 6–12. Our hands-on workshops include a guided introduction to related museum exhibitions and current research at MIT. Also available for adult and senior groups by request.

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Robotics Engineering

Workshop

Explore what makes a robot tick in this introduction to programming robots. Students use the LEGO Mindstorms NXT and NXT-G Programming Environment to get robots sensing, thinking, and moving about.

Make to Move

Workshop

Tour the Museum’s Gestural Engineering exhibition and find your inner engineer and artist. Learn about gears, pulleys, linkages, and more, and combine them to produce a working kinetic sculpture. For middle and high school students.

Structural Engineering: Building Better Bridges

Workshop

Find out just how strong a piece of paper can be, bridge distances you’d never think possible, and see the simple geometry at the root of the longest bridges in the world in this active workshop on structural engineering.

DNA and Protein Synthesis

Workshop

Students with a background in molecular biology explore transcription, translation, and protein folding. This workshop, for high school and AP Biology students, uses LEGO pieces, digital and physical models, and guided discussion to explore key concepts in molecular biology.

Hello Holography!

Workshop

Students experiment with light and perception to investigate the basic principles behind real-world holography. Through a series of demonstrations and hands-on activities, students learn how holograms are made and viewed.

Lights, Camera, Action: Physics and Photography

Workshop

Make waves, explore magnetism, and try your hand at strobe photography. Students design and capture their own images of physics experiments, using the MIT Museum’s historical photography collections, including works by Berenice Abbott and Harold “Doc” Edgerton as inspiration.

Fish 'n' Ships

Workshop

Students design, build, and test mechanisms for ship propulsion in this introduction to nature-inspired engineering at MIT. This workshop features examples from MIT research labs and the museum’s Hart Nautical collection and a mini-tour of the Robots & Beyond gallery.

Visualizing Science: Abalone, Brass Rats, and Computer Chips

Workshop

See the world in a new way using a range of technologies to build observation skills and explore objects from the MIT Museum collections and on-campus research labs. This hands-on microscopy workshop includes a brief gallery tour and an introduction to nanoscience research at MIT.