Zooming Through a STEAM Camp- Day 2 (168)

Zoom is a view into living rooms and kitchens. Backyards and playrooms. It shows messy landscapes and pristine living spaces. Adults tend to use it at a desk, organized backdrop style. Its used for professional meetings, faculty meetings, team meetings. Even talk shows are using them for broadcasting. In other words, its a versatile tool.

With children though, its less formal. They tend to forget to mute, so you hear arguments with siblings, dogs barking, cartoons in the distance. At first its discombobulating. I learned quickly to remind them to mute. You can mute everyone manually, but in a summer camp where you are asking questions, it is necessary for them to be able to mute and un-mute themselves. They got the hang of this very quickly.

Today they had to go outside and launch their stomp rockets. Two different sized plastic bottles, a whole lotta PVC pipe and a rocket kit. Thus a good rule of thumb is for students to have sunblock on hand and a timer. So they stay on schedule. The timer is key to making sure they return on time, in order for breakout sessions to run smoothly. Its hard to switch when you have some students still in the backyard.

Students also made constellations in a cup (foil and tooth picks) after they wrote a quick story about a picture they were given. Then they put dots on those pictures and transformed them into constellations. Then made a view finder. They shined a flashlight through a hole in a silo cup, covered with the foil with holes. They went to a dark closet etc. to view. The timer made this run smoothly as well.

Finally students made telescopes from kits and Mar's diorama's. They were given all the supplies and their projects came out so cool. All four activities took place in different breakout sessions, with a different teacher. Each session was 40 minutes. At the end of the day, we shared our favorite stuff as a large group (72 students).

We are getting to know one another better, so students are getting more interactive with one another and with me. I am getting used to the squirming too. In fact, we were using flashlights today. I gave them 30 seconds to flash it all over the place, "get crazy with the light," I said. Then they put them down and I really didn't have anyone being distracting for the rest of the session. A simple wiggle worm activity helped keep them more focused.

Staying adaptable is important. We wanted to use a document camera to share a book during snack time. But, the synchronizing part with the screen wouldn't work. So we simply read the book in Zoom. Always have a back up plan. Things will go wrong. But, I find kids are very patient and easy going, its kinda a no stress way to learn. The technology may seem scary, having them in their homes is a bit distracting, but overall- it works.

Especially when you plan and organize very well on the front end. Giving supplies in pre-packaged days and lessons has made this camp fun and very interactive. If I have to distance learn next year, I will set up items in advance as well, or provide lists for parents and students to organize before hand. That way its not lectures and scavenger hunts alone- but STEAM and makerspace activities that are both engaging and educational.

Today- Provide very clear directions (check), well-organized supplies (check) and some friendly faces (check) and voila' day two of an elementary science summer camp, successful.