The age-old proverb says experience is the best teacher. And with concerns about America losing its edge in the world when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math — the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation agrees.
For grade-school students, the NIHFF’s “Invent Now Kids” has designed a program intended to make learning a lot more meaningful, and surely a lot more fun.
Several local children have been attending “Camp Invention” this week at West End Elementary School. Disassembling old appliances and electronics brought from home to later construct an egg-breaking machine, building Viking ships from recycled resources, creating a superhero model, and building a shelter are just some of the projects intended to bring relevance to the usual study of science and math.
When they wrap up the program today, parents who will be visiting might first look at the mounds of paper, duct tape, foil and cardboard and wonder, “What have they been doing all week?” said Rachel Amdahl, Community Education director. But she added that they will soon discover the experience, creativity and craft that have resulted in those creations.
On Wednesday, children gathered around a kiddie pool which had floated their personally designed Viking ships constructed from everyday recycled items. They explained that it took 100 oak trees for the real Vikings to build one boat. Tenneyson Amdahl remarked that wrapping her design in duct tape kept it from absorbing water so it didn’t sink. The kids learned from their own experiments which types of construction kept boats floating the longest, and how discoveries such as these apply to boat building in the world today.
Camp Invention instructors Angie Schwartz and Holly Blais provided guidance in at least four different science and math concepts. The program utilizes local teachers and staff members so that each week-long experience is unique to the area in which it is held.
Children go home each day with a printed review of their projects and plans for the next day. The report also includes additional trivia about the experiments in which they have engaged, mind puzzles and other thought-provoking ideas and questions.
Based on the concept that learning should be fun, the program provides opportunities to experience the joy of inventing while playing — in ways that enhance traditional educational methods. Trial and error shows kids that there is more than one way to solve a problem.
Custom designed for students entering first through sixth grade, Camp Invention’s science-based curriculum has proven a success nationwide, says a press release. The lessons are taught through hands-on, group activities designed to help children discover that there is science behind their favorite superheroes or tracking down a lost Viking treasure.
Unconventional learning
may help America compete
Camp Invention explores the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and math. Research shows America is facing a critical talent gap in these areas, known as the international “language” of innovation. Camp Invention encourages exploration and curiosity during everyday activities so children understand that science is everywhere.
But unconventional learning methods are key, and fun is part of the objective every day. On Tuesday, the children wore pajamas. Wednesday was “silly hat, necktie and shades” day so the novice inventors showed up in derbies and berets, as well as cheese, jester, and Santa hats among many others.
Wearing safety glasses, local kids ripped apart boom boxes, old radios and other electronic items they brought from home. Using teamwork, their next assignment would be to combine salvaged parts to build a contraption that could break an egg.
The program allows imaginations to run wild. Children are led to use ingenuity to create the necessary items for success. At week’s end, they’ve been exposed to environmental and “green” science, the laws of physics, and structure design techniques that could influence their knowledge absorption for years to come.
Dr. Cindy Moss, Science and Curriculum Director for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, has seen the impact that enriching education can have on children. She recently noted, “We have to find a different way to teach science and math so that children get excited and see that it’s relevant.”
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