Camp Invention Participants to Power Robotic Creatures and Rebuild Virtual World for Avatars
The nationally acclaimed Camp Invention program is coming to Jasper this summer June 6 – 10. Created for children entering grades one through six, the exciting Camp Invention program is a weeklong adventure in creativity that immerses its participants in engaging, hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), as well as history and the arts.
“We are focused on the STEM subject areas that will help the United States address a critical shortage of scientists and engineers in the global workforce of the 21st century,” explains Michael J. Oister, COO for the nonprofit Invent Now, Inc, which operates Camp Invention. “Our programs nurture creative thinking in children, providing them with open-ended opportunities to explore ideas, make mistakes, and reinvent solutions.”
Each day, children rotate through five integrated modules that employ creative thinking to solve real-world challenges. Children learn vital 21st century life skills such as problem solving and teamwork through imaginative play.
This summer, in the INNOVATE program, children at JES will explore alternative energy as they help a mysterious scientist power robotic creatures to life in the Power’d™ module. They will work to understand the importance of economics by rebuilding the marketplace of a disappearing virtual world in the Hatched™ module. In the SMArt: Science, Math & Art™ module children will uncover the beauty of math without numbers as they unearth the surprising connection between soap bubbles, honeycombs, and lightning bolts. By popular demand, all Camp Invention programs include a module in which children participate in high-energy games that challenge their minds and bodies, as well as a renowned invention module, where children upcycle pieces and parts of discarded household appliances and other donated materials to create new machines.
Since Camp Invention’s inception in 1990, the program has grown to include over 1,100 school partnerships in 49 states. In 2010, more than 65,000 children participated nationwide. The Camp Invention program was created in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which continues to support Invent Now’s mission to inspire creativity and inventive thinking in children of all ages. Regional program sponsors include JES PTO, HCES PTO, TES PTO, the Lions Club, the Optimists Club, and Joe Hendricks.
The Camp Invention program has been featured in Child, Principal, and Better Homes and Gardens magazines, as well as dozens of other publications and educational journals. The program has also been the focus of National Public Radio’s Science Friday and was studied by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. In a recent survey, 90 percent of parents said that the Camp Invention program helped their children to enjoy science.
Every program participant receives a Camp Invention T-shirt featuring clever, new artwork. To register a child for the program or to learn more about Invent Now programming, visit www.campinvention.org or call 800.968.4332
