Summer Is for Science in Springs
To an outsider, what looked like a pile of trash filling the commons room at the Springs School on Monday was, on closer inspection, a collection of materials intended to be taken apart and reassembled to create new contraptions by the kids at Camp Invention.
While they were exploring scientific and engineering concepts in small group workshops, Sema Mendelman, a parent of two students and a frequent Springs School volunteer, was busy organizing the trash — egg cartons, wicker baskets, plastic bottles, lampshades, bubble wrap, cardboard tubes, cassette tape players, computer keyboards, video game controllers, radio speakers, and much, much more.
The Springs program had its genesis a few years ago when Ms. Mendelman searched for science-related summer activities for her children. She said the closest program was in Hampton Bays, and “that was too far.”
What she did next was to get in touch with Camp Invention, a program developed by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, about building a camp here. Now in its fourth year at the Springs School, Camp Invention is a weeklong summer event for kids entering kindergarten through sixth grade that promotes science, engineering, math, technology, and imagination. Sean Knight, a Springs science teacher, immediately jumped on board as its director.
Of the camp’s 80 students, 65 are from Springs and the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton. The rest are from nearby districts or children whose families are here for the summer. Many of the kids come back for a second year, Mr. Knight said. The camp also attracts middle school students as counselors-in-training and high school students who earn community service credit.
The teachers this year are Melissa Knight, Dina Rafferty, and Kim Havlik, local elementary teachers, and Jennifer Marchignoli, from Manhasset. They receive instruction from the National Inventors Hall of Fame before camp begins and go on to develop their own lessons.
The activities this year are Epic Park, in which kids design an amusement park of their dreams using physics, design, entrepreneurship, and clean energy concepts. A CrickoBot workshop has students making solar-powered bugs and other tiny inventions inspired by crickets. There’s a Maker Studio, where kids apply reverse engineering to take apart electronic devices and use the pieces in new projects, and a Where Pigs Fly lab in which they experiment with everything from demolition and cup- tower explosions to programming and coding as well as the chemistry of polymer slime and spinning disco ball circuits.
According to Mr. Knight, many students have not been able to work on projects for extended periods or explore subjects to their fullest extent during the school year ever since the Common Core curriculum standards were adopted. “Here, they get to work on a project all week. One of the great things about the camp is that kids get to have a lot of trial and error, instead of coming into a 50-minute lab where they have to solve the problem right away,” he said.
Opinions from some of the kids taking part were positive. “It’s really fun. It gives you a chance to explore,” Finn Hopkins, a Springs School fifth grader, said. “The really cool part is every year they come up with something new.” Jameson Grant, a Springs sixth grader who has signed up for the camp all four years, said that after her first year, she started asking her parents for things around the house she could take apart and reuse. Chloe Swickard, also a Springs sixth grader, said, “This really makes you think. You don’t think this much in your daily life.”
Mr. Knight said he doesn’t see Camp Invention “slowing down anytime soon” and Ms. Mendelman said the program complements what is taught in school. “The thing I really love about this camp is that there is no right way to do things. They figure things out for themselves. Kids are exploring, and that’s really cool.”