Participating in science programs is a great choice for motivated middle school students who want to explore concepts beyond the classroom. Through these programs, students can gain a deeper understanding of subjects like computer science, biology, chemistry, and physics while honing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Fall programs often take place at the start of the school year, thus participating in one could help boost your interest and performance in science subjects. These programs typically include hands-on activities that make challenging concepts easier to grasp and more enjoyable. In this blog, we’ll explore 10 great fall science programs specifically designed for middle school students! 

1. Online Enrichment Courses @ Northwestern University

Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development (CTD) offers multiple course options available for 3-8 grade students, and if selected for one of these online enrichment programs, you will study concepts related to science that are 1-2 grade levels above their peers in school. During the fall semester, three online programs are conducted by the CTD - Online Enrichment, Online Honors, and Online Core Essentials.

The eligibility criteria are well-defined for each program. The Honors program allows you to earn one credit in 16 weeks or two credits in 34 weeks in your area of choice. You can find the eligibility details here. 

You will complete a Core Essential session in 9 weeks in the fall and you should expect to spend 2-5 hours per week engaged in course activities. The Enrichment programs run for six weeks and will also require 2-5 hours of weekly commitment. Some of the courses for middle school students will cover topics including - ancient medicine & etymology, astrobiology, AI, and robotics.

Location: Virtual

Cost: Core Essentials - $675, Enrichment - $575, Honors: 1-credit course - $835, 2-credit course - $1,425. Applications for financial aid closed on September 1, 2024. 

Dates: September to November 2024 (Core Essential and Enrichment), September 2024 to January 2025 (Honors, 1-credit course), September 2024 to May 2025 (Honors, 2-credit course)

Application Deadline: Rolling basis

Eligibility: All students in grades 4-8 are eligible to apply

2. Veritas AI

Veritas AI conducts two online programs for middle school students interested in artificial intelligence (AI). These programs have been designed and are run by Harvard University graduates. AI Trailblazers is a program designed for middle school students to learn the basics of AI and machine learning in 10 weeks. You will also get to work on hands-on group projects.

In the AI Junior Fellowship, you will work 1-1 with a mentor from top universities like Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, and MIT. Students receive guidance to develop either a project or work on a research paper within 12 weeks. This is a unique program that provides you with a great opportunity to explore AI and its applications across various disciplines. You can find the application form here. 

Check out this program brochure for more information on the programs! 

Location: Virtual

Cost: AI Trailblazers - $1,990 & AI Junior Fellowship - $3,900. Financial aid is available

Dates: Upcoming dates can be found here

Application Deadline: Winter cohort - December 1, 2024 

Eligibility: AI Trailblazers - open to all middle school students; AI Junior Fellowship - students with prior Python experience or those who have completed the AI Trailblazers course. 

3. Lumiere Junior Explorer Program

The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students founded by  a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. In this program, you work one-on-one with a mentor from a top research university to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. You can choose to either create a research report, a presentation or any final output that showcases your research! 

You can cover research in subjects ranging from AI & data science, and biology, medicine and public health to business, entrepreneurship and sociology or anthropology. You can view the full list of exploration tracks here! 

Location: Virtual 

Cost: $2,400. Need based financial aid is available. 

Dates: Winter cohort - December 16, 2024

Application Deadline: Winter cohort - November 24, 2024

Eligibility: Open to students from grades 6-8

4. Saturday Enrichment Programs: William and Mary School of Education 

William and Mary School of Education’s Center for Gifted Education conducts a Summer/Saturday enrichment program for talented young students. The program is not designed to supplement your school curriculum but is designed to ignite your passion to pursue advanced knowledge across various fields of subjects like science. 

Saturday Enrichment Programs consist of various 5-and-a-half hour courses covering topics like chemistry, neurology, microbiology, and more for middle school students and they take place on predetermined dates throughout the year. There will be four sessions in fall 2024: September 28, October 19, October 26, and November 16. All sessions are held onsite at the Center for Gifted Education (CFGE) at William & Mary. The class size per session is limited to 18 students. 

Students applying for the first time to the program should have scored in the 95th percentile or better on a nationally normalized test in areas such as math, problem-solving, science, and social studies. The list of tests accepted to determine eligibility can be found here. 

Location: College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA

Cost: $179 per session, you can apply to as many sessions as long as you meet the eligibility criteria

Dates: Multiple dates throughout the year

Application Deadline: Typically a month before every session

Eligibility: All middle school students are eligible to apply in relevant sessions

5. Weekend Enrichment Program @ Northwestern University

The Weekend Enrichment Program is another offering from Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development (CTD) and is designed for students who can commute to the Evanston campus for live sessions. Participants will attend six sessions on Saturdays between October and November, with a typical session running for two hours and 30 minutes. 

You can only choose to attend one course as the course is designed to provide students with a deep dive into their subject of choice. Students attend interactive lessons and also take part in various individual and group activities. Courses teach subjects on a 1-2 grade level above in comparison to the school curriculum and can be a bit challenging. Eligibility details can be found here. 

Location: Northwestern University Campus, Evanston, Illinois

Cost: $179 per session, you can apply to as many sessions as long as you meet the eligibility criteria

Dates: Multiple dates throughout the year

Application Deadline: Typically a month before every session

Eligibility: All middle school students are eligible to apply in relevant sessions

6. Stanford Middle School Scholars Program

The Stanford Middle School Scholars Program is a free program designed for students from low-income communities with the goal of preparing them for high school. The program has a summer and academic year component, which runs through the fall semester. 

While there is no particular course covering science, you can choose the Real-Life Applications to Mathematics course, to learn about math’s real-life applications like cryptography. This course is designed and taught by Hina Kato, who has a B.S. and an M.S. in Mathematics from California State University, Hayward. She has over two decades of experience in teaching mathematics to school students. The batch size for each course is limited to 12 students, to ensure that you have enough time and opportunities to have meaningful interactions with like-minded peers, guest speakers, and instructors.

Location: Virtual

Cost: Free

Dates: Three weeks in the summer of 2025 and weekly meetings in the fall semester after school

Application Deadline: March 2025

Eligibility: All 6-7 grade students from low-income families in the U.S. are eligible to apply

7. Science Alliance: Middle School Program

The American Museum of Natural History in New York hosts Science Alliance, a middle school program, in three sessions every year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Students have the option to choose from courses covering earth science, astrophysics, anthropology, conservation science, and biology. Depending on the topic, courses run between four and eight weeks in the fall session. 

Classes are offered on Thursdays and Fridays after school and on Saturdays, they are conducted between 10 am and 3 pm. As the classes conducted after school only last for two hours each, these courses are completed in eight weeks. The course, which only takes place on Saturdays, is covered in four weeks. 

This on-site opportunity allows you to meet and learn from the Museum scientists and the course also involves visitors to the Museum’s various halls. There are no tests or assignments, ensuring that you can have fun while learning without any pressure! 

Location: American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 

Cost: $1,000. Financial aid is available

Dates: Weekly classes on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday between October and December

Application Deadline: Rolling basis

Eligibility: All middle school students, who can attend in-person classes at the AMNH are eligible to apply.

8. UMN CORE Program

The Community Outreach, Retention, and Engagement (CORE) is a unique program for middle and high school students and their families from groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields. The program is run by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN-TC) for local students. While this program does not focus exclusively on academic enrichment, it is designed to be holistic, so as to provide exposure to science through weekly workshops and engagement. 

Middle school students sign up for the program as CORExplorers. They attend the Saturday Scholars event, one Saturday per month from September through May. They engage in various hands-on activities arranged by the UMN faculty and researchers and also learn about STEM fields and career options. Current UMN students also provide mentoring from time to time. 

Participants attend five-hour long sessions one Saturday per month and are provided with free breakfast and lunch. While most of the sessions take place at the UMN campus, free field trips are also arranged. 

Location: University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN

Cost: Free

Dates: One Saturday a month between September and May

Application Deadline: No details are available. The application form can be found here.

Eligibility: Open to all 6-11 grade students from the Twin Cities area. Preference will be given to students from historically underrepresented in STEM fields (e.g., Black, African, or African American; Asian or Asian American; Hispanic or Latino/a; Native American; multiracial and multiethnic) 

9. STEAM Workshops @ Georgia Tech

The Georgia Tech CEISMC STEAM Workshops are held in multiple sessions throughout the year as part of the  Expanded Learning Programs by the institute. There are multiple workshops tailored for middle school students, which involve hands-on activities and encourage teamwork. These workshops take place on Saturday mornings in the fall session. 

From Code to Creation: AI Powered Game Development is one of the sessions for middle school students and under the guidance of the instructors, you will work on basic coding and use AI tools to make simple games from scratch. The other sessions include lessons like DNA extraction from strawberries, working with magnets, LEDs, and circuits, and understanding the anatomy of human lungs. 

There are no prerequisites for attending these workshops and all students who can attend the sessions at the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons building can apply.

Location: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 

Cost: $65 per session

Dates: September 28, 2024

Application Deadline: Registrations close 72 hours before each session

Eligibility: All middle and high school students from Atlanta are eligible to apply to programs for their respective age groups

10. Expanding Your Horizons (EYH)

Expanding Your Horizons Network is a non-profit organization that works towards inspiring women to take up careers in science and technology. EYH at Texas A&M University is a career conference for 5th and 6th grade students organized annually by the College of Arts & Sciences. 

While the program helps inspire young girls’ interest in STEM fields, boys are also eligible to apply for the program. The program takes place in a day with multiple science-related workshops to ensure an engaging experience for participants. Some of the workshops from last year included Coding for Fun!, Eggstruction, It's in our Genes!, Mighty Meteorites, and Squishy Science: Berries With a Side of DNA. 

Institutes like the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UC Berkeley, Cornell, University of Notre Dame, and more organize annual conferences, though their programs are usually held in the spring semester. 

Location: Texas A&M University College of Arts & Sciences, College Station, TX

Cost: $10. This includes pizza lunch and participation t-shirts

Dates: November 23, 2024

Application Deadline: Registrations open on October 1, 2024

Eligibility: Students currently in 5th and 6th grades from the Houston area are eligible to apply

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