Camp Invention teaches kids about STEM fields

On a recent afternoon at Berryton Elementary school, 80 students from different grades, were learning about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM.)

However, since it was a summer camp, they were also having fun.

For the second summer, Shawnee Heights USD 450 is hosting Camp Invention, this time at all of the elementary schools. Created by National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, this national program for grades kindergarten through sixth offers summer enrichment in the STEM fields of study. Berryton’s camp director, Laura Hurla, said it was a good way to impact more students during the summer than just the traditional tutoring option.

“The tutoring we do during the summer is one-on-one or one-on-two, so with this we reach a greater population of kids,” she explained. “And it’s just fun and engaging. Even though they’re still learning, it is kind of hidden in the creation process. It feels like summer around here.”

During the day, the students rotate between five classrooms. The topics they cover include:

• The Innovation Force, where the kids team up with inventive superheros to battle the evil Plagiarizer, who is out to steal the world’s ideas. They create a device to retrieve the stolen ideas while learnings about intellectual property and the patent system.

• Deep Sea Mystery, with the students getting stranded on an island as they search for fossils.

• Farm Tech, which shows them the technology behind modern-day farming. They also learn to code their own Bot-ANN-E robot and conduct mock DNA experiments.

• DIY Orbot, where the kids learn about frequency, circuit boards, motors and gears as they work with their own DIY Orbot.

• Game time, which combines fun with science.

The students are divided into mixed age groups. This allows the older students to help the younger ones. There are also middle and high school students helping out during the week.

“It’s actually really fun to watch them interact together. They do create a lot of group projects, so you watch a first grader being very excited explaining his or her idea to a fourth grader, who has to take the patience to listen,” said Hurla.

In one classroom, kids were planting seeds in a make-believe field with a robot. In another, they speculated about a fossil they unearthed. In a third room, they built bridges for robots to cross, while another group, dressed as superheroes, headed to the “Inventor Supply Room” to choose from recycled cereal boxes, milk cartons and newspapers for the “device” they needed to build. Outside, students were racing to move water from one bucket to another with a sponge.

“Our goal is that we want our kids to be active questioners and to seek a solution,” said Hurla. “And being able to think outside the box. At Shawnee Heights, we have the Eight Keys of Excellence, and ‘Failure leads to Success’ is the main thing of this week, but also flexibility of thinking. We had a whole conversation this morning with the whole group of students about remaining open minded means having patience with each other, trying their idea, if that doesn’t work you try another idea.”