UFOs and dinosaurs
Two online summer camps
The good news is that kids these days swim in information. The bad news, of course, is that all too often they don’t know what’s actually real — and even when they do, it feels flat.
I’m teaching two week-long online camps this summer designed, in rather different ways, to fix that. They train the instinct for truth, and make the truth feel real.
This Sunday I’ll be doing an open house to help parents know if this is for their kids; you can sign up below.
Believe it (or Not): UFOs
Monday June 1 – Thursday June 4, 2026
Morning & afternoon sessions open
See the webpage
What’s it about?
On the surface, UFOs. What’s going on with those weird objects Navy pilots keep seeing? But beneath that, it’s about how to know what’s true. What does good evidence for aliens actually look like?
This is the third in our series of “Believe it (or Not)” summer courses, which train kids in the subtle art of Bayesian reasoning. (I wrote a bit about this on Astral Codex Ten last year; this year’s class will go much further.) If you sign up, you’ll get the recordings from last year’s topic (Sea Monsters) for free.
A Dinosaur a Day
Monday June 15 – Thursday June 18, 2026
Morning & afternoon sessions open
See the webpage
What’s it about?
To say that I was “dinosaur obsessed” as a kid probably undersells it. Dinosaurs were my window into the adult world, and especially the world of science…
…and dang it, they really are a great window. While, as a science teacher, I bring a little bit of dinosaurs into everything that I do, up to now I’ve avoided teaching a “dinosaur” class, because where would you even start?
I think I’ve figured it out. Our goal, here, will be to (1) look at some of the most thrilling recent discoveries in paleontology, and (2) try to imaginatively bring them back to life. Expect all of the Egan tools that we talk about on this blog to make an appearance.
The open house
These classes aren’t what they seem on the surface, but I think I can more clearly give a taste in the our open house. If you’ve got a kid (ages 8–15 is our sweet spot) who you think this might be good for, feel free to attend our Zoom webinar open house this weekend:
3pm Eastern / 12 noon Pacific
Sunday, April 12