Academic Year 2022-23

Welcome to our Supercharged Science Family! I am so excited you’re joining us this year!  This  online program is very flexible. Your child can work through the program at their own pace, fast or slow, and on their own schedule. You can watch the lessons in any order, as many times as you’d like.

You don’t have to worry about trying to come up with a weekly science curriculum, answering hard science questions, and getting your kids to do their lessons… I’m going to do all the heavy lifting for you and do all of this and more! All YOU need to do is provide the kids.

As an added bonus, I am offering additional LIVE, interactive classes each week to introduce one science concept to your kids. Near the end of each lesson, I’ll answer questions and point to the experiments that go with the science topic we just covered.

Step 1: Download your Science Packet

I've put together a schedule of the classes I will be teaching live every week, and you are welcome to join me! There will be engineering challenges, time for questions and interaction, and so much more during our time together. This is also called an "Academic Planner", as it contains the information you need to plan out your academic year.

Step 2: Pick a Month / Subject to Study

You can start at any point in the year. We usually start with physics first for three months, then a month of chemistry followed by five months of science applications (engineering & astronomy). Each month is stand-alone so you can hop around if you'd like to. 

Academic Year 2022-23 Classes with Aurora:

You'll find all the science content for the academic year published below. All class video recordings, handouts, worksheets, bonus labs, material lists, experiment lists, and bonus live sessions are found below. (For Brian's Electronics content, please go to Unit 25; for Oliver's Microscopy is Unit 26, and Al's Aviation is Unit 27.)

September 2022 - Physics of Motion & Sound

This month, we are focusing on the fundamentals of physics. You’ll be taking a crash-course in physics as you swing, zoom, bang, drop, roll and tangle with Newton’s Laws of Motion and understand the basics principles of Energy. Kids will be experimenting with hovercraft, freefall motion, parachutes, catapults, building three kinds of speakers, and more!

• 09/06: Week 1 Mechanics (Forces, Gravity & Friction) Unit 1 (Download Worksheet #1)
• 09/13: Week 2 Motion (Velocity, Acceleration & Freefall) Unit 2  (Download Worksheet #2)
• 09/20: Week 3 Energy (Potential, Kinetic & Roller Coasters) Unit 5  (Download Worksheet #3)
• 09/27: Week 4 Work & Power (Simple Machines, Rube Goldberg Machines) Unit 4 (Download Worksheet #4)
• 10/04: Week 5 Sound (Vibration, Resonance, Waves & Speakers) Unit 6 (Download Worksheet #5)

October 2022 - Physics of Light

Discover the amazing properties of light by learning about intensity, color, brightness, polarization, and more as you work your way through the electromagnetic spectrum! We're going to build laser light shows, reflect holograms, shatter sunlight, and bend light into a pretzel using physics.

• 10/11: Week 6 Properties of Light (Frequency, Wavelength, Spectrum) Unit 9 (Download Worksheet #6)
• 10/18: Week 7 Lasers (Transmission, Absorption, Refraction, Diffraction) Unit 9 (Download Worksheet #7)
• 10/25: Week 8 Optics (Lenses, Optics, and Holograms) Unit 9 (Download Worksheet #8)

November 2022 - Electricity, Electronics, Magnetism

Spark together electric motors, build homemade burglar alarms, wire up latching circuits and create your own whizzing, hopping, dancing, screeching, swimming, crawling, wheeling, robots! Topics: electricity, magnetism, electrical charges, chassis construction, sensors.

• 11/01: Week 9 Electricity & Circuits (Series & Parallel, Burglar Alarms) Unit 10 (Download Worksheet #9)
• 11/08: Week 10 Robotics (Electrical Components, Sensors) Unit 10 (Download Worksheet #10)
• 11/15: Week 11 Magnetism & Electromagnetism (Relays & Linear Accelerators) Unit 11 (Download Worksheet #11)

December 2022 - Chemistry & Chemical Reactivity

Ooze, bubble, and slurp your way through the periodic table as you grow dinosaur toothpaste, coagulate slime, crystallize molecules, shake up ice cream, blast cannons and make a liquid freeze by heating it up. Discover 5 states of matter, supercooling, chemical kinetics, phase shifts, molecules, elements, atoms, chemical reactions.

• 11/29: Week 12 Matter, Atoms & Molecules Unit 3, 8 (Download Worksheet #12)
• 12/06: Week 13 Reactions & Reactivity Unit 3, 8 (Download Worksheet #13)
• 12/13: Week 14 Electrochemistry Unit 8 (Download Worksheet #14)

January 2023 - Mechanical Engineering

We’re going to take the areas of physics and chemistry and apply it to one of the oldest branches in engineering: Mechanical Engineering. This area of science covers a wide scope, including engines and power systems, heat and cooling systems, renewable and alternative energy sources and so much more. We’re also going to do one full week of electrical engineering fundamentals so you can what real engineers need to know in order to do their work!

• 1/10: Week 15 Work, Energy, Power and Hydraulics/Pneumatics Units 4 & 5 (Download Worksheet #15)
• 1/17: Week 16 Renewable Energy Unit 12  (Solar, Wind, Geo, Bio, Tidal, Ocean) (Download Worksheet #16)
• 1/24: Week 17 Thermodynamics Unit 13 (Temperature, Heat Transfer) (Download Worksheet #17)
• 1/31: Week 18 Electrical Engineering Unit 25 (Soldering Basics with Brian uses this soldering kit)

February 2023 - Civil & General Engineering

We’re going to discover what it’s really like to be an engineer by building bridges, buildings, and skyscrapers and also by working our way through several engineering challenges which includes design, construction, and troubleshooting. 

• 2/07: Week 19 Tension, Compression, Levitating Structures (Download Worksheet #19)
• 2/14: Week 20 Materials, Structures, Buildings (Download Worksheet #20)
• 2/21: Week 21 Special Class! National Engineering/Science Week (Download Engineering Challenge Packet here.)
• 2/28: Week 22 Science Fair Projects! (Download Guidebook)

March 2023 - Astronomy & Astrophysics Part 1

Take an intergalactic star tour of the universe as you discover new moons, comets and asteroids; explore the outer solar system, and learn about the unusual uniqueness of planets! You'll get to learn how make a comet using chemistry, explode plasma in your kitchen and create solar eclipses in a the closet. Also included are live star gazing sessions to help you learn how to navigate the night skies easily!

• 3/07: Week 23 Planets, Moons and Binoculars (Download Worksheet #23)
• 3/14: Week 24 Asteroids, Comets, Meteorites (Download Worksheet #24) BONUS METEORITE LAB on 3/16 at 10am Pacific; STARGAZING 3/17 at 8pm Pacific
• 3/21 Week 25 Galaxies, Telescopes, and Big Observatories (Download Worksheet #25)
• 3/28: Week 26 Solar Astronomy, Stellar Astrophysics (Download Worksheet #26) BONUS SOLAR OBSERVING LAB 3/28 at 11am Pacific

Spring Break 2023 Science Camp!

Five full days of Science: 4/10-14! Join Aurora for five days of hands-on science activities, projects, and experiments in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and Earth science.  You'll spend time each day with Aurora discovering and exploring fascinating concepts in science for the day, and then be off doing your experiments and working on your labs! All classes are recorded and posted here!

April 2023 - Astronomy & Astrophysics Part 2

We will continue our journey in astronomy by discovering  supermassive black holes, spinning neutron stars, active quasars, supernovae, and more! Listen to pulsars, explore time travel, stargaze and find double stars and globular clusters in the night sky tonight! 

• 4/04 Week 27 Star Clusters, Double Stars, Nebulae (Download Worksheet #27)
• 4/10-14 Spring Break Camp!
• 4/18 Week 28 Deep Space Objects (Download Worksheet #28) BONUS STARGAZING SESSION 4/21 at 8pm Pacific
• 4/25 Week 29 Black Holes & Supernovae (Download Worksheet #29) 

May 2023 - Aeronautical & Aerospace Engineering

Soar, zoom, fly, twirl and gyrate as you investigate the wonderful world of flight, creating flying contraptions, blasting rockets, and learning about air pressure, flight dynamics, wing design, air breathing engines, rocket thrusters, and take a real lesson in an airplane with a flight instructor!

• 5/02: Week 30 Aviation: Avionics, Instruments and Flight Lesson in a Real Airplane (Download Worksheet #30)
• 5/09: Week 31 Aeronautical Engineering: Aircraft Design (Download Worksheet #31)
• 5/16: Week 32 Astronautical Engineering: Rocketry, Spacecraft Propulsion & Design (Download Worksheet #32)
• 5/23: Week 33: BEAM Robots Solar robotics and electronics class with Brian using this BEAM Bot solder kit. Note: Kits ordered after May 1 may not arrive in time for class.
• 5/30: Week 34 Finale!