Three local teachers held a camp in Becker this past week with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

 

Brittney Topliff and Crystal Vanark, both life science education majors at SCSU and Sue Block, a seventh grade math teacher at Becker Middle School,  recently co-taught a local summer STEM camp at the Becker Athletic Complex.

Block, Vanark and Topliff created the camp this summer to provide a way for students to keep their minds active over the summer, as well as allow the teachers to help the students review some of the concepts that are often forgotten over the course of the school year.

 

The instructors reviewed ecology by having the kids create creatures based on an environment they chose out of a hat. Then they had the kids go on a scavenger hunt throughout the park to find different relationships on nature. 

 

Also, the kids made, painted and raced wooden cars to explore the scientific method and potential energy.  The builders used M&Ms to explore mean, median and mode — a concept that isn’t horribly difficult for most to understand but is often forgotten over the school year.

 

“This is a great way to remind parents that kids need to stay academically active over the summer and there are plenty of opportunities to make learning fun,” said Topliff.