If you're staying at home with a kitchen right now, try making it your laboratory! We will share a couple kitchen-friendly science experiments where you'll see the ingredients, a few key steps, and pre-prepared end results so you can learn how to adapt the recipes in your own kitchen. For example, make your own pH tests with red cabbage juice and make green eggs (without ham, apologies to Sam I Am). Layer liquids of different densities and learn about emulsification. Feed yeast and watch it grow. Apply a scientific process to baking and make adjustments, depending on your preferences. We'll get to enjoy our experiments in multiple ways, because they're edible! For 2020-2021, this class focuses on scientific concepts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please join us for the Pandemic Edition of Science in the Kitchen!

I took a life-changing class offered between the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Chan School of Public Health on this topic, and now I cannot un-see what I've learned...human trafficking and forced labor is happening all over the globe, in many industries where we make daily purchases. From the migrants and asylum-seekers at our country's border with Mexico to the refugees I have been working with in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, there are so many communities who are being particularly targeted by traffickers today. By becoming more aware about some of the issues, and some of the positive efforts people have been working on to fight against modern slavery, we can better prepare ourselves to do something about this major challenge facing our world. I hope to spend the last 10-15 minutes of this session together discussing potential action steps.

In this class, we ask three simple questions: 1. Who am I? (Story of Self) 2. Who are we? (Story of Us) 3. What do we want to change in the world today? (Story of Now) Storytelling for social change is based on the "Public Narrative" framework, which has been used by organizers and activists around the world to inspire others to action through sharing powerful stories about our values and our histories. In this class, we will coach you on how to craft and tell your story to empower your friends, family, and community to act on an issue you care about (like fighting climate change or poverty)! An example of public narrative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3avJucRbUd0

D-Lab is a program at MIT building a network of innovators to design and disseminate technologies that meaningfully improve the lives of people facing issues of poverty around the world. Our "Build-It" modules provide basic technical training on how to use tools to make something, while applying the skills learned to build practical technologies. For example, we have offered "Build-It" modules to make useful agricultural tools and battery chargers with communities in Haiti, Brazil, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia, while teaching basic circuitry, woodworking and metalworking. A team of D-Lab university students will be traveling to Ghana over January to lead "Build-It" modules with high school students in the community of New Longoro. We would like to practice with you first, and get your feedback. Please come try out some of our "Build-It" modules, and make your own versions of technologies that D-Lab has used in international development! Become a part of our global network of innovators!

Interested in helping to make education more exciting and relevant for youth around the world? Tired of how so much of our education is centered around test-taking, rather than what is relevant to daily life? Let's work together to make learning about creativity, empowerment, community, and inspiration! Come help D-Lab (http://d-lab.mit.edu) test and improve hands-on educational modules, which we will be teaching in India, Ghana, Brazil and elsewhere next January! In this interactive session, we'll work with you to design and build a few technologies that can be useful in rural communities with limited resources, and then we'll listen to you for suggestions on how we can improve the educational activities we're offering. We hope this will be a meaningful way for you to explore the field of international development, while contributing your own ideas to make a difference in international education!

Interested in helping to make education more exciting and relevant for youth around the world? Tired of how so much of our education is centered around test-taking, rather than what is relevant to daily life? Let's work together to make learning about creativity, empowerment, community, and inspiration! Come help D-Lab (http://d-lab.mit.edu) test and improve hands-on educational modules, which we will be teaching in India, Ghana, Brazil and elsewhere next January! In this interactive session, we'll work with you to design and build a few technologies that can be useful in rural communities with limited resources, and then we'll listen to you for suggestions on how we can improve the educational activities we're offering. We hope this will be a meaningful way for you to explore the field of international development, while contributing your own ideas to make a difference in international education!

Can we develop our communities in a way that is environmentally sustainable? Can we preserve global biodiversity and still consider the needs of communities living in poverty? This workshop will explore the dynamic nexus of environment, development, technology, and social innovation. We'll consider a range of efforts and brainstorm new opportunities to generate income and promote ecological conservation: -sustainable agricultural practices -fuel-efficient cookstoves -ecosystem-based waste and resource management -livelihood alternatives to habitat-reducing activities like poaching, monoculture, overfishing, and deforestation -and more! Together, let's come up with ideas to improve the quality of life for all organisms, not just human communities; let's find ways to protect our favorite creatures without forgetting about the people living nearby.

Interested in helping to make education more exciting and relevant for youth around the world? Tired of how so much of our education is centered around test-taking, rather than what is useful in life? Let's work together to make learning about creativity, empowerment, community, and inspiration! Come help D-Lab (http://d-lab.mit.edu) test and improve our hands-on educational modules, which we will be teaching in India, Ghana, Zambia, Brazil and elsewhere next January! At this workshop, learn about how to design and build cool technologies (ex: low-cost water testing kits, saltwater batteries, etc.) and then share feedback and suggestions on how we can make the lessons more awesome. This interactive session will be a great way to explore the field of international development, while contributing your own ideas to make a difference in international education!

Come learn about the interesting, challenging and important field of international development. We have made so much progress in the past few centuries, yet an estimated 4 billion people are still living under the equivalent of $3 a day - that's almost 2/3 of the world! What role can technology play in addressing this global challenge? We'll have an opportunity to play with some cool technologies that are out there, as well as build some of our own. Discover and unleash your inner creativity for a positive social impact!

Join us as we revisit the imaginative tales of the celebrated children's book author, Theodor Geisel (pen name Dr. Seuss). Learn to appreciate the historical context behind his stories, as well as the life lessons embedded in them. The Lorax holds a powerful tale about the environment, while The Sneetches is about racial equality. Did you know that Horton Hears a Who is actually an allegory about American occupation in post-war Japan? What does The Cat in the Hat have to do with changing the way we think about education? Come find out! We will use these books and others to launch us into open discussions about different issues we face today and brainstorm ways we can address them.

How much waste do we generate? What's in it? Where does it all go? How does it affect us and our environment? In this session, we'll explore all you ever wanted to learn about garbage and more. Together, we'll discuss ways to reduce our waste - and use it. This workshop will have a hands-on approach. Be prepared to get your hands dirty (we'll provide gloves, don't worry) as we learn do a waste audit. We'll try our hands at turning trash into treasure, using disposed items to make batteries, notebooks and holiday gifts - it'll be a fun way to save some money, energy, water, and save the world from more trash.