It's that time of the year when summer
camps take center stage. Summer camps are a perfect hook to get students
excited and interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM).
For a number of years, FLATE and HCC has partnered with Nuts, Bolts, and Thingamajigs
(NBT) to offer robotics camps for middle and high school students. NBT is
committed to supporting individuals and organizations to enhance their passion
for manufacturing and related educational/career pathways. The camps have
served as an effective vehicle in sparking students' interest in STEM, more
importantly showcasing the integration of STEM and robotics in high-tech
manufacturing settings and educating them about rewarding educational and
career pathways in manufacturing.
This year FLATE is offering four
robotics and engineering camps. Camps season kicks off with a 'Girls Only' offering
from June 3-7. The intro camp for boys and girls will be held June 10-14; the
intermediate camp will be held June 17-21 and the high school engineering and
technology camp will be held June 24-28. Cost for the intro and intermediate
camp is $175; the high school camp is $200 per week. Camps are held Monday to
Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be held at Hillsborough Community
College in Brandon. More information about the HCC-FLATE camps and registration
is posted at http://fl-ate.org/programs/summer-camps.
You can also contact Desh Bagley, camp coordinator, at 813.253.7838, or at dbagey5@hccfl.edu.
In
addition of the robotics and engineering camps at HCC, FLATE supports camps at
other partner institutions around Florida over the past ten years. Below are
some camps going on this year. The
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) is hosting a number of
robotics camps at Ocala and at Pensacola. The intro camps at Ocala and at
Pensacola are for rising 7th and 8th graders will be held
June 3-6, and the intermediate camp for rising 8th and 9th
graders will be held June 17-20. Cost per session at both locations is $170 and
will be held 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information and to register for a
camp(s) visit www.ihmc.us.
North
Florida Community College is hosting several camps throughout the summer. The Mechatronics Camps for high school
students will be held June 11-15, the Engineering Technology camps for high
school students will be held June 18-22. Camp season will conclude with week-long robotics camps for middle school students from July 9011. All camps
will be held 9-3:30 p.m. at the NFCC Career & Technical Education Center
Building 13 and are free of charge. To
register and/or get more information contact Bill Eustace at 8450.973.1670, or
at eustaceb@nfcc.edu.
In Pinellas
County, St. Petersburg College is offering a number of STEM-TEC camps. The
camps provide hands-on activities across various industries and is focused on
workplace readiness training, teambuilding, and job shadowing in STEM-related
fields. More information at www.spc.edu.
Palm Beach State College is also offering a number of STEM programs for middle
and high school students this summer, with scholarships available for eligible
campers. Email Becky Mercer at mercerb@palmbeachstate.edu
for more information. Lake
Sumter State College (LSSC) is offering two 4-day sessions of Energy Camps this
summer for high school students. One session will be offered on each of their
two main campuses. These camps are free,
and this summer will cover a range of alternative energy challenge-focused
activities. Last summer, LSSC hosted an
amazing Solar Energy Camp and we look forward to seeing their expansion to a
broader “energy” camp and also to their second campus.
To help
new organizations get started with Lego EV3 camps, FLATE provides a learning
challenge-focused curriculum for a 5 day, or shorter camp. The camp curriculum
is available for FREE on FLATE’s wiki. The curriculum contains handouts,
presentations, video clips, robot challenges, and teacher resources. In
addition, FLATE has two free guide books with best practice for starting and
running successful, fun and learning camps.
One booklet is focused on using Lego EV3 robots and the second is aimed
at high school students and is more integrated engineering technologies focused
in which student build a programmable robotic arm during the camp week.
STEM
focused summer camps, when implemented thoughtfully, can be fun, educational
and inspiring. With the negative perception of manufacturing still a barrier to
recruiting your talent into the manufacturing pipeline, these “intensively
focused” camps can help students learn more about what they are interested in
or, perhaps not interested. Working and interacting hands-on with technology,
coding and competing can provide a positive impact and show students that they
can have success in STEM careers. Don’t hesitate to contact FLATE if you have
questions about any of these resources. Contact Dr. Marilyn Barger
(barger@fl-ate.org).
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