About the event
STEM Saturdays are monthly, hands-on mornings in real Porter labs, taught by faculty and Porter students, many of them future teachers. November’s theme is circuits you can squish. Younger kids make conductive and insulating dough and discover that an LED cares which way round it goes. Grades 3–5 add switches and a buzzer. Grades 6–8 build a working pressure sensor from dough and a multimeter, and then try to beat it.
Everyone goes home with what they built, which this month is soft, slightly salty and not for eating.
Schedule
| Time | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 8:30–9:00 a.m. | Check-in (photo ID for pickup list) | Founders Union main lobby |
| 9:00–10:30 a.m. | Grades K–2 (parent or guardian stays on campus) | Jarvis Technology Center 120 |
| 9:00 a.m.–noon | Grades 3–5, with a snack break | Jarvis Technology Center 120 |
| 9:00 a.m.–noon | Grades 6–8 | Jarvis Technology Center 120 |
| 10:30 a.m. / noon | Pickup | Founders Union main lobby |
Location and access
Check-in and pickup are in Founders Union. Volunteers walk the groups across to Jarvis, which is step-free with an elevator. Parents of K–2 children wait in the Founders Union family lounge, where there is coffee, or stay in the room. Ratios are one adult to six children in K–2 and one to eight in grades 3–8, and every adult has been cleared through youth program clearance. Snacks are nut-free. Preview Day is the same morning, so allow extra time to park.
Tickets and registration
Registration opens Saturday, October 17, at 8 a.m. Popular sessions fill within a day. The price is $12 per child, $8 for each sibling at the same session, or the $70 season pass, and the session is free for any family that checks the scholarship box, with no questions asked. Teachers and scout or 4-H leaders can reserve up to eight seats at the scholarship rate.
Contact and related events
Next month is “The Drop Test” on December 12, with registration opening November 14. More for families is on For the community. Adults who would like to help can sign up through volunteer on campus. Allow three weeks for clearance.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This STEM Saturday, its dough and its prices are invented; no child can be registered, and the pressure sensor will not be built.