STARBASE Academy at Hanscom AFB is a unique, free STEM enrichment program supporting students, teachers, and school districts in Massachusetts.
Note from the Director: Our Annual STARBASE 2025 Summer Camp will run August. Eleven to thirteen year olds from the Hanscom AFB Community are welcome to participate. Details to come. For more information, contact us directly at - E-mail address: peter.holden@theastagroup.com Tel: 781 225-8055 Director Tel: 781 225-8056 Admin
Students from the Captain Brown School in Peabody, MA December 2022
STARBASE School Year
Our Core Program
STARBASE offers 5th grade students a challenge - the opportunity to participate in a variety of novel learning activities designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The STARBASE experience promotes positive self-esteem, helps students to focus on setting and achieving personal goals, raises career awareness and boosts student confidence in problem solving.
“If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.”
To participate in STARBASE, classes of fifth grade students from Title I communities come to the base, with their teachers, for their unique, five-day STEM experience. The classes experience 25 intensive hours of challenging (and exciting) learning that includes both open-ended and guided-inquiry activities. For students, this is an adventure - an opportunity to be brave and try new experiences. For teachers, STARBASE at Hanscom AFB is a model of effective practices in STEM teaching and an opportunity to see their students achieve in a novel setting.
Want to know more? Click here to contact us.
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STARBASE 2.0 at Yawkey Boys and Girls Club 2019
STARBASE Advanced
After-School STEM Clubs
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. ”
STARBASE Advanced consists of mentored, after-school STEM clubs located within school districts for students beyond fifth grade. STARBASE Advanced incorporates project-based learning in STEM, career awareness, mentoring, and team building. The purpose is to extend the engagement created within the STARBASE School Year program, though students need not have attended STARBASE to participate. STARBASE Advanced creates an opportunity for longer term immersion in STEM projects, deeper connections with mentors and greater focus on personal goals.
In recent years, we have partnered with schools and Boys and Girls Clubs to provide STEM clubs focused on invention, computer aided design and robotics.
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Outreach and Innovation
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
Working together, thinking together, creating together is how great things happen. We have some terrific outreach programs and activities running because people and organizations were willing to back novel ideas and/or collaborate to make it happen. These innovations make our core programs stronger, more effective and better integrated into the STEM education system.
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If you are an individual, school, school district, educational organization, or STEM-supporting organization interested in participating, partnering, supporting or volunteering at STARBASE, we'd like to here from you.
Click here to learn about volunteering.
Click here to contact us about participating, partnering or otherwise supporting.