"What did you do over summer break?"

"Oh nothing, just helped further humanity's understanding of the universe."

Does radiation from space change Earth's climate?

Does having more friends improve the quality of the air you breathe?

Don't know the answers to either of these questions?

Don't worry, no one does yet...but YOU can help build understanding of these and other intriguing queries by joining the LA Makerspace's Citizen Science Summer Research program!

At our Citizen Science Summer Camp, you'll have the opportunity to work with research labs and set up and run your own research project. Along the way, you'll gain valuable research skills as a citizen scientist doing field work, running studies, and applying mathematical analysis running the gamut from algebra to differential equations to your results.

What do you need to bring, you ask? Curiosity, a burning question you're dying to find the answer to about the way our world works,  and the persistence to overcome setbacks.

If you've got what it takes, come be part of the exciting Citizen Scientist movement!

Dates: June 17th - July 26 (with the week of the 4th of July off; July 1st - July 5th).
Time: 10am - 2pm
Location: 1933 South Broadway #1138 Los Angeles, CA 90007.
Cost: $2000/ six week session.

For program inquiries and registration, contact Levi Simons at levisimons@gmail.com or the LA Makerspace at awesome@lamakerspace.com.

Partners and projects include:

Caltech
1. Solar Energy Activity Lab - This project, otherwise known as SEAL, involves the creation and testing of cheap metal compounds which can split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen using just sunlight for solar energy storage.
2. Juice from Juice - This project involves the building and testing of solar cells which use cheap pigments, such as blackberry juice, instead of pure Silicon in creating solar electricity.

Safecast
1. Safecast radiation - Started in response to the Fukushima meltdown, this project has led to the development and deployment of a large network of radiation monitors and the creation of a public database of radiation levels across large portions of the planet.
2. Safecast air - The next step in the Safecast network is the creation of an air quality monitoring network which will allow anyone in the world to monitor their local air quality and check a public database with current statistics on air quality elsewhere in the world.

American Physics Society
1. Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory - This project involves the use and testing of an Android app which turns the camera chips in phones into distributed cosmic-ray detectors. This project will enable users to help study the nature of rare and high energy space-based phenomena by running the application on the their phone at night.

Natural History Museum
1. BioSCAN - The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles has a well-establish group of citizen science projects.  One of the newer project, BioSCAN, will monitor local climate and insect biodiversity across the LA Basin and allow for biologists to study the relationship between climate and the evolutionary trajectories of different species.

Interested in learning Python? Join this group, led by our very own director and professional Software Engineer Michelle Leonhart (@at0mbxmb) every week!

Skill range: All. Total n00bs to professional developers.
Ages: All. Children are welcome, but under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
Access: Open to the Public. RSVP is not required, but definitely helps us know how many people to plan for.

Chat: We're active in the chat during the meetup.  Join the conversation here; password is lamakerspacepython.  Ask questions, seek help, or post cool projects.

Structure:
There is no formal instruction. Once a week we will meet up to study Python and help each other out along the way. Many of us have formed into smaller groups to work on our own projects.  Occasionally, we'll have speakers come and present with projects or experience they have with Python.

Those who may not want to learn all of Python but have a programming-related question are welcome to stop by and ask for help. Myself and others with development experience can assist them with their projects, homework, or other programming-related needs.

While we're here, the LA Makerspace is OPEN, meaning members may come work on their own projects for their own purposes at the same time.

Directions:

Driving / Transit Directions

After hours entrance is via the security entrance to the left of the main entrance.

We're on the 11th floor.

Parking on the street is free after 6pm on Mondays, but is STILL 4 HOUR PARKING.

The Man will ticket you if you don't move your car every 4 hours.

The LA Times reported this week that student filming in LA jumped 30% in 2012 and that “last year there was more student filming in L.A. than filming for TV dramas.” What kind of films are these kids making given that Steven Spielberg said this week that the business model for film is “imploding”?!? What does Spielberg mean “imploding”? What does ‘filmmaking’ even mean these days? Is Filemaker Pro 10 really that bad? Should I suppress my dreams of owning a high end DSLR and just shoot my next feature on my iPhone? Should I have become a plumber?

Join filmmaking veterans Jeff Geoffray and Kent Nichols as they host the first of an informal series of get-togethers to discuss everything from your latest projects, to your favorite equipment. Bring your camera and we’ll shoot a promo for our next get-together. Meanwhile, we’ll ask you what LA Makerspace can do to increase digital literacy and advance the art of storytelling. What can we do to help storytellers strengthen our community?

Jeff Geoffray is a filmmaker and father and co-founder of Blue Rider Pictures, an independent production company established in 1991. He and his business partner, Walter Josten, have over a hundred feature films to their credit as producers, production executives or financiers. After decades in the business, he still doesn’t feel like he knows anything and, perhaps, those who work with him would agree.

Kent Nichols co-created the pioneering web series Ask A Ninja. Since then, the series has been viewed over 140 million times, quoted on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, featured in the New York Times Magazine and won numerous awards, including the first YouTube Award for Best Series. He has spoken around the world and participated in many conferences including TED, PopTech and SXSW. In October 2010, Ask a Ninja relaunced with new formats on YouTube and AskANinja.com. Kent is currently the Content Partnerships Manager at Blip TV.

Scratch is one of the most popular programming classes at LA Makerspace. Our space becomes full of enthusiastic, creative thinkers of all ages. We want to provide a place for Scratchers to get-together and work on projects, learn from their peers and experiment with new ideas and technology such as the MakeyMakey. 

Please join us for 2 hours of fun!

Note: We are planning on meeting every other week. The in-between week will be to work on other programming languages that may include Python, HTML and more.

Facilitators:

The Facilitators are not there to run through a lesson plan, but rather support the Scratchers in their projects. 

• Josh Shapiro, Senior at Harvard Westlake
• LA Makerspace Director
• The Occasional Special Guest!

What is a Scratch Club?

A place to get-together with other Scratchers of all skill levels to help each other in a supportive, peer learning environment.

Choose to work on your own project, work through a lesson plan (e.g. http://wiki.classroom20.com/Scratch+Lesson+Plans) or try something new.

Who Uses Scratch?

Scratch is designed especially for ages 8 to 16*, but is used by people of all ages. Millions of people are creating Scratch projects in a wide variety of settings, including homes, schools, museums, libraries, and community centers.

Students are learning with Scratch at all levels (from elementary school to college) and across disciplines (such as math, computer science, language arts, social studies). Educators share stories, exchange resources, ask questions, and find people on the ScratchEd website.

* Note: The LA Makerspace has had makers as young as 4 or 5 use it and have a ton of fun!

What is Scratch?

With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community.

Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century.

Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.

Read more.

What Do Parents Think About Scratch?

"I just want to thank you all for making Scratch, and for providing it for free. My kids are doing amazing things that they see as fun yet I know is educational, valuable, and worthwhile. Thank you so much!!!"

"My very shy but technical minded daughter has found this to be a fantastic, safe outlet for her creativity. She spends her free time creating ever more difficult animations and sharing them with the scratch community. The forums provide her with a group of like-minded individuals with which she can hold on a conversation... She now feels that computers, graphic design and animation are something she would like to pursue in the future. Your program has opened a whole new world to her in so many ways, and I thank you wholeheartedly. "

"My son is learning more than I can imagine from your tool. He is not a natural logical thinker but loves LEGO. Your LEGO-like building block structure has moved him forward by light-years in his logical thinking skills...He can snap things together and begin to see the logic reinforced by immediate feedback. Of course we work on some things together--instant father and son time. This is just incredible. Just a big thanks to you and MIT."

What's the use of a robot army if it doesn't go anywhere?

Robots need sensors to know where they are going: to be able to go forward, reverse, left, and right.

Young geniuses will construct an arduino controlled vehicle based on the brilliant beetlebot instructable by robomaniac, and will program it to get through a maze!

The supplies to build the car are a separate $15 ticket.  Feel free to bring your own supplies.

Bring an arduino and a laptop to program the brain of the robocar, if you have them.  Otherwise, you can borrow some at the makerspace.

Instructables is sponsoring monthly build nights at makerspaces and hackerspaces around the world!  Each month is a different theme, and June's is 3D Printing with 123D & Tinkercad!

We'll be working on 3D models to make 3D prints, and trying them out on our printers here at LA Makerspace!  After that, we'll post our creations on the web!

All are welcome at this free event, but there's only so many printers at the space, so be sure to RSVP!

Cost: Free!

Age: We recommend 8+

Requirements: Your curious self

Week of June 24 through June 28

9am - 5pm

Ages (13-16)

Explore the art of narrative through creative writing development:

 Things to bring:

• An interest in Creative Writing and Narrative
• Your favorite notebook (analog or digital)
• An active imagination!

LA Makerspace annual members get a 10% discount on all summer camps, all summer long!

To become a member click here.

Week of June 24 through June 28

9am - 5pm

Ages 8+

Explore the art of papercraft, folding, cutting, laser cutting and building with paper.

Things to bring:

• An interest in Papercrafts
• An active imagination!

LA Makerspace annual members get a 10% discount on all summer camps, all summer long!

To become a member click here.

Week of June 24th through June 28th

9am - 5pm

Ages 13-16

Play Minecraft, build your own world and learn to code at the same time! What could be better?

Things to bring:

• An interest in Minecraft
• An interest in coding and modding
• A laptop (if you have one, otherwise one can be provided)
• An active imagination!

LA Makerspace annual members get a 10% discount on all summer camps, all summer long!

To become a member click here.

This event is recommended for ages 10 - 15 & is open to the public. RSVP is required! Tickets available at the bottom of the page. :)

On Saturday, June 29th, we'll be hosting Stop Motion for Young Adults with professional animator and motionographer Rachel Yonda! 

What can you do with Stop Motion, you ask?  Stop motion (also known as stop frame) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own.

The possibilities are endless, but check out this project Rachel worked on for Sony Bravia in New York City to get an idea:

Click to view the whole animation!

(Yes--Those are literally HUNDREDS of Play Doh bunnies taking over Manhattan!)

During this event, students will work with Rachel on the basics of creating a stop motion animation.  Rachel will provide a brief background on stop motion and the different techniques, followed by a fully hands-on workshop on creating puppets, backdrops, and storylines.  We'll even have a real green screen available so students can try making animations of themselves and each other! By the end of the workshop, students will have created their own short animation together, and will have the skills in hand to create as many in the future as their imaginations can handle.

We will have all materials on hand for students to create their animations, including cameras.  However, students are encouraged to bring digital cameras (iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Android devices are especially useful) of their own if possible, so that they can easily bring home their own raw footage for later experimentation and fun!

The animation created during the class will be provided to the students via email afterwards, so that everyone may have their work to save and share!

About the Instructor

After studying Animation at NYU, Rachel began her career in New York City.  Since then, she has had the opportunity to work in many mediums.  From preschool television, to commercials, to indie films, her work has appeared in the form of stop-motion, traditional 2D, and 3D animation in a wide variety of projects.  You may recognize her work from Disney's Little Einsteins, Adult Swim's SuperJail, or the BBC's Third and Bird (for those of you across the pond).  

Click to Watch Rachel's Character Animation Reel!

Are there ID requirements or an age limit to enter the event?

Participants are recommended to be between 10-15 years old.  All participants under 13 must be accompanied by an adult.  Adult guardians of minors need not purchase a ticket unless desiring of their own set of materials for the class.

Do I have to bring my printed ticket to the event?

No 

What is the refund policy?

No refunds 48 hours prior to the class

DIRECTIONS 

We are located at LA Mart. Look for the very large chair.

PUBLIC TRANSIT
The Blue Line Grand Station at Washington and Grand is 2 blocks away in front of LA Trade Tech College and there are several bus stops within a block as well.

PARKING

Parking Lot: $10.00 – M-F; $5.00 ($7.00 non-members)- Saturday and Sunday. Inquire at desk.

Street Parking: Available; See meters for time restrictions

NOTE: Parking on Hill Street is FREE on Sunday 

ENTRANCE
Entry on Saturday and Sundays and Weekdays after 6pm is through the Employee Entrance to the left of the main LA Mart doors.