Activities

Explore UT is open to the general public with online programming that is accessible to all. Activities specifically designed for K-12 students include an indication of a suggested grade level, denoting the difficulty of the concept or activity presented. Some programs will require participants to join virtual platforms (Zoom, Brazen, etc.). Children who are participating in these programs must be monitored by an adult chaperone (parent, guardian or a teacher) in order to join the virtual platform. Some may require verification that a chaperone will be present in order to register for participation.
 
Anytime

DNA Extraction Extravaganza

Ever wondered why you look similar to your parents, siblings, cousins, or grandparents? Ever wondered what makes you unique? Ever wondered what makes something living? The answer to all of those questions is deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Learn what makes you unique by extracting DNA from fruits.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

Moody Mentors

Moody College provides a platform of study that is significant and vast, and our expert teaching faculty stand out not only for their classroom leadership but their innovative approaches to discovery and scholarship in their respective fields. Our scholars are motivated to also bring their generated knowledge into the world to help provide real-world solutions and assistance. Please learn more through the Moody Mentors series, which provides evidence-based life hacks from our team of faculty experts.

Moody College of Communication Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Party Pipeline Adventure

Create a party pipeline that delivers a party snack (marble, marshmallow, ball, cheerio, anything, etc.) to the party people (or animals) who are at least 6 feet away. Use paper, toilet paper rolls, tubing, boxes or anything else to create your pipeline. The pipeline must not have more than a 10-inch change in elevation and must incorporate at least 3 changes in direction.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

Learning by Doing with Landmarks, UT’s Public Art Program

Join us to learn how artist Nancy Rubins uses recycled materials to create large sculptures and discover how she collaborates with structural engineers to make sure the sculptures are very strong, even stronger than the buildings around them.  Learn how to make your own mini sculpture, including the structural engineering behind it, with activity guides for all ages.

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Our Home

Welcome to the Department of French and Italian. In this program, students and faculty demonstrate the excitement and adventure that can come from studying French and Italian languages and cultures at The University of Texas at Austin. Undergraduate students share personal experiences from their language classes and traveling, in faculty-led study programs, to Europe, to explore Rome in Italy and Lyon in France. Faculty course presentations cover a wide-range of topics, from Dante’s underworld to French film, from Italian art history to French life-changing experiences. For many UT students, encountering new languages and cultures through UT's foreign language study programs has been a "mind-blowing" experience.  We hope this video showcases that experience and inspires you to learn more about these wonderful languages.

College of Liberal Arts Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Design a Lava Lamp

Design Your Own Lava Lamp. Create a lava lamp using oil and water. To create the lava lamp, you will learn how a chemical reaction generates the lava lamp effect.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

Unexpected Collections

The Unexpected Collections event showcases how special collections in The University of Texas connect the state of Texas to the world. The showcase uses digital maps and images about the Spanish American War in the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection of UT and information about the Texas Volunteers to demonstrate how historical materials come to life in our classrooms. Using freely available images and tools, the audience will see where real life volunteers came from and catch a glimpse of how they may have experienced the Spanish American War of 1898, all through an interactive digital map. Not only will the audience see the map, but they will also experience how this activity is normally done in our courses through a walk-through. Honoring the rich and unique history of Texas and UT, the event also demonstrates the diversity of ideas and languages that exist on our campus. Through this event, we hope to give our visitors an idea of the amazing possibilities for learning, experimenting, and creating that only UT makes possible.

College of Liberal Arts Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Mask Making for Teens

Make your very own 3D cardstock mask. Choose from an alien, cat, skull, or dragon. Print out the mask of your choice on heavy cardstock, cut it out, assemble, and decorate it! These 3D masks take some time and patience to create but are worth the effort! Each mask takes approximately 30 minutes or more to complete.

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
Anytime

Edison Lecture Series: Failing Well

Discover how failing at something can also lead to incredible success.  Middle and high school students can see the fun side of electrical and computer engineering through a series of four mini-lectures on this year's topic, "Failing Well." Next you can watch these concepts come to life through fun demos on our "Edison Lecturebank" available on Padlet (https://padlet.com/tc78/aa5lho2qkazid1s6).

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

Thirst for Power: A Virtual Field Trip

Water and energy are the two fundamental components of a society, and they are interconnected. View the film, Thirst for Power, shot on location across France, California, and Texas, to explore our dependence on water for energy as well as vulnerabilities in our current systems.

This on demand film screening with a digital study guide, Q&A session, and virtual field trip are vailable March 6 through May 31.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
Anytime

Programming Maze Game

Computational engineers often have to solve big problems as fast as possible, but some programs can take hours or even days to find a result. This means that engineers need to think carefully about the code they are writing.  Learn to code by guiding your character through the levels of this online programming game.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 5, 2021, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Design and Create a Lightbulb Circuit on TinkerCad

Join members of Texas Engineering World Health (TEWH), a project-based solutions organization, to learn how to design and create a lightbulb circuit using the online 3D modeling program, Tinkercad. It is easy to use, and you can discover what it takes to create a fun Light Up Squishy Circuit.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 5, 2021, 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Meet the Showbots!

When the pandemic made it impossible to teach a hands-on robot building course in person, UT professors “went small” and collaborated with a teacher to create a remote Robot Club at Metz-Sanchez Elementary in Austin. Twenty amazing robots were created. Learn more about five of them and meet the robot makers. Discover how robots work, and a few lucky teachers will even get the chance to control one of the robots live via the internet. 

College of Fine Arts Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, 11 to 11:30 a.m.

Careers in Architecture

Learn more about unique career opportunities after graduating from The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture.

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, noon to 1 p.m.

Majoring in Architecture & Interior Design

Join academic adviser Jasmin Blas-Mendieta for more information about majoring in architecture and interior design at UT. A question-and-answer opportunity will be provided.

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, 2 to 2:45 p.m.

A Day in the life of an ECE Student

Come hear from a student panel about what it's like to be an Electrical and Computer Engineering student at UT Austin!

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 5, 2021, 2 to 2:30 p.m.

Drone Flight

Understanding the blend of sciences, art, and precision of measurement provides new perspectives forcing us to wonder what we are viewing. What is the story behind this image?

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media
March 5, 2021, 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.

Introductory Lecture by Professor Larry Speck

Professor Larry Speck's lecture for first-year students examines architecture's links to literature, theater, film, music, politics, and society at large.

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media
March 6, 2021, 10 a.m. to noon

Design your own Google Logo!

Use your creativity and imagination to bring the Google logo to life using code. Make the letters dance, tell a story, or create a game. You can learn the basics of coding with this activity and learn all about how the professionals do it! If you finish this activity, head over to the Hour of Code website and choose whichever coding activity you’d like! With Scratch and CS First, anyone can become a designer and programmer for the day!
Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 11 a.m. to noon

Majoring in Architecture & Interior Design

Join academic adviser Jasmin Blas-Mendieta for more information about majoring in architecture and interior design at UT. A question-and-answer opportunity will be provided.

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media
March 6, 2021, 11 to 11:30 a.m.

Rocketry 101

Join researchers from the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab to see what goes into building a rocket. We'll share information on our current project which is a part of the Base 11 Space Challenge. Explore the various components of a rocket and learn about how students like you can launch a rocket into space.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 11 a.m. to noon

Explore Aerospace

Join aerospace engineering graduate students as they walk through some of their research topics relating to orbital mechanics, small satellite engineering, robotics, and satellite remote sensing. Short video presentations will be shown from each area, followed by an interactive Q&A session.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, noon to 4 p.m.

Girl Day at UT Austin: Interactive Booths, Live Broadcasts, Interactions with STEM Role Models

Explore 50 booths with hands-on STEM activities, demonstrations, videos, and role models available for one-on-one video chats with participating families. Students with an adult can choose which activities they'd like to explore and come and go during the "live" virtual booth experience from noon to 4 p.m. CT. Girl Day at UT Austin, including Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day and the Girl Day STEM Festival, is a free STEM event hosted virtually through Sunday, March 7, 2021.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, noon to 3 p.m.

Repurposing Plastic Film into Plastic Yarn

Learn how to reuse and repurpose one of the peskiest household items: Plastic Shopping Bags. We will be turning these shopping bags into rope, coasters, bowls, and more! If you have questions or want to chat, you can join the zoom meeting and speak to a student from Engineers for a Sustainable World!
Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, noon to 2 p.m.

Draw a Robot Design Challenge

Join us to see Dance Bot, hands down UT's cutest robot, show off a few moves. You'll learn how Dance Bot and other robots work and discover how Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) can be used. Then, take the Robot Design challenge to draw a robot that will accomplish a specified task. 

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, noon to 4 p.m.

Twinkie Coring

Learn how Petroleum Engineers find oil through our fun, simple, and edible activity: Twinkie Coring!

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 1 to 3 p.m.

Scratch That, Let’s Code

Join us to learn how to make an animation using Scratch. Scratch is a free programming language that uses command blocks and characters, known as sprites, to allow users to design games and animations. Start by learning the basics of Scratch, such as the different kinds of sprites you can use and how command blocks interact with each other.  Use your imagination and have fun.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 1 to 1:30 p.m.

Rocketry 101

Join researchers from the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab to see what goes into building a rocket. We'll share information on our current project which is a part of the Base 11 Space Challenge. Explore the various components of a rocket and learn about how students like you can launch a rocket into space.

Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 1 to 3 p.m.

Coding Challenges with IEEE

Activities for Beginners - Intermediate Coders! We are UT Austin’s official chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the largest ECE organization at UT! IEEE UT encapsulates all the extracurricular activities needed for an ECE student by providing social, professional, and technical outreach opportunities. It serves as the all-in-one org for ECE majors! Design Challenges: Clapping Heart, Electronic Pets, MakeCode Microbit Coding Challenges.
Cockrell School of Engineering Engineering
March 6, 2021, 1:15 to 2 p.m.

Introductory Lecture by Professor Larry Speck

Professor Larry Speck's lecture for first-year students examines architecture's links to literature, theater, film, music, politics, and society at large.

School of Architecture Arts, Design and Media