South Washington County Schools Community Education

Gopher Steam is back for the 2025 -2026 with 24 brand new STEM classes for kindergarten and up.  Come sign up for some serious STEM fun with Gopher STEAM this spring! 

Topics we will explore include: 

Super Science Season 6

Structural Engineering

How do engineers build amazing bridges that cross seas and skyscrapers that touch the sky? We will explore how we use shapes like triangles and arches to tame the forces of tension and compression that would tear our modern world apart. We will learn how the Romans built fantastic aqueducts and bridges by building arches. Get hands-on experience by building a toothpick tower and test your own bridge design.

Catch a wave!

We will explore the wonderful world of waves we live in. Experiment with pendulums like Galileo did. Make your own waves with strings, sound and light. Use a scientific Slinky to generate longitudinal and transverse waves as you learn about frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. Bring home a simple wave simulator to continue your learning.

Ready for Take Off!

As long as humans have existed, we have dreamed of leaving the solid ground and taking flight. Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of fantastic flying machines and even a parachute. It would take another 420 years and the Wright brothers to tame and control flight. We will explore the scientific principles that make flight possible by building hot air balloons, helium blimps, gliders and more. We will even make a stunt glider to continue our experiments at home.

Gravity

Catch an apple and come along to explore the force that makes stars shine and keeps the planets in motion. Let’s follow in the footsteps of Galileo and Newton as we explore how gravity works through a series of hands-on experiments. Recreate Galileo's famous gravity experiment that inspired Newton to revolutionize physics. Learn how the Earth pulls on us but we also pull on the Earth. Make your own gravity toy to take home.

Taste (school age)

We assure you this class is tastefully fun. Learn about the four categories of flavors and how we taste them. Experiment with how our sense of smell supercharges our sense of taste. Do we really taste different things on different parts of our tongue? Participate in a double-blind taste test to learn how to construct reliable experiments. Take home a few taste tricks to amaze your family.

Marble Madness (school age)

Everyone says we have lost our marbles! That may be true but we have fun doing so. Marbles give us so many ways to experiment with gravity, motion and forces that we built a class around them. Explore how to turn potential energy into cool kinetic motion by building marble runs and roller coasters. Marvel at the mysterious motion that magnetic marbles make. Make your own marble maze to take home.

Cardboard construction (school age)

There is nothing more creative than a kid with a cardboard box. We will set your imagination loose with my classroom set of Makedo cardboard construction tools. Let your creativity guide you as you use the design cycle to endlessly invent and create with recycled cardboard. Oh yes, you do get to take your creation home!

Cells (school age)

“Life is made out of cells. Cells make copies of themselves...” They Might Be Giants. Let’s look at the tiny bubbles of DNA, mitochondria, proteins and lipids that constitute life on this earth. We will use microscopes to look at cells and learn what makes them similar and different. Explore the structure of bacterial, plant, and animal cells by making a model to take home.