Small people can create big things — at least that is the idea at Camp Invention, which is being held through next week at Wrights Mill Elementary School in Auburn.
Students from across the state can take part in the math and science enrichment camp meant to inspire students to invent.
“The camp is basically an immersion camp … so they are hands-on,” said Jacque Middleton, camp director and an eighth-grade physical science teacher at J.F. Drake Middle School.
Students took part in an array of activities, including building machines to search for buried treasure, building a miniature golf course, taking electronics apart and building something new out of them and trying to build an apparatus to pull a note safely across hot lava.
Students worked together on every task.
“It’s really important, even at this age, to have students pair up together,” Middleton said.
Many students are hooked after their first camp.
“We have a big fan base … they (students) really get into it,” Middleton said. “Most of our fifth-and sixth-graders are repeat attenders.”
Students inhabit classrooms much like they do during the school year, except the desks are removed.
“Each classroom has a certified teacher,” said Jennifer Spencer, another camp director and a fifth-grade science teacher at Montgomery Academy.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame, an Ohio-based organization that promotes inventors and inventions, sponsors the camp.
The U.S. has fallen behind other countries in producing inventions, Spencer said. The camp is put in elementary schools to boost math and science, she said.
“This week, we have 74 kids,” she said. Last week, there were 62, and 50 students are already signed up for next week. The camps are a week long, and there is one camp left. There is still space available for next week’s camp, she said.
Jaden Johnson attended last week’s camp and was back again.
“I’ve been working on inventing stuff,” said the 6-year-old, who will attend Richland Elementary School next year.
Last week, Jaden made a toy for his new baby sister. He said she hasn’t played with it yet.
This is Elizabeth Balsh-Crystal’s third year at the camp.
“Last week, I liked working in Art Park. First, we made a totem pole. Then we made mobiles,” she said. “The last day, we worked in groups and incorporated all of them.”
The camp is a community-wide event, and students from all over the state can attend.
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