During the summer of 2018, we taught a week-long summer camp at The Salvation Army North Mabee Center Boys and Girls Club. It was a STEAM camp, with each day focused on one of the letters.
Day one: Science
Our lesson ran from about 9:10 to about 11:50. We discussed astronomy and made a to-scale version of the solar system, with the sun being the size of a dime. The total size of our model was the size of a football stadium, with the planets being smaller than grains of rice.
Day two: Technology
This day’s lesson went from about 8:55 until 12:00. We talked about coding and computer languages, followed by an hour of code practice. After, we practiced hexadecimal and binary conversions.
Day three: Engineering
Our team was there from 9 to noon. The main activity of the day was building structures to keep eggs from breaking when they were dropped, followed by an assessment of the results with the kids. They then remade the structures based off of previous results and then dropped them again.
Day four: Art
Our lesson ran from about 9am to 12. We discussed how a series of lines can form a curve, and invited the kids to draw their own curves. After, we made origami cubes.
Day five: Math
We were there from 9am to 12 and began with a presentation on fractals and examples of them in the real world. The kids were then taken outside to find and trace fractals. After showing what they had found, we drew Sierpinski’s triangle and combined everyone’s fractal to make a larger one. We then made 3D fractals with toothpicks and marshmallows.
