Fort Belvoir, Va. (July 17, 2014) - Jacob Reinhardt can't keep his little hands from shaking as he solders his submersible remote control in the Fort Belvoir Elementary School Sea Perch lab. Teacher, Kathleen Ordile, steps in to show the junior scientist, and rising sixth grader, how to hold the circuit board in one hand safely while applying the hot metal with precision.
Wearing goggles much larger than his face, Reinhardt gets the hang of it, and little curls of smoke rise in the air to show his success.
In another room down the hall, children watch robots lurch and jerk in circles as they figure out the proper programming commands to get their robots to achieve simple tasks.
"Remember, 180 degrees, not 180 turns," teacher, Rachel Domer, reminds the students, as she watches one spin over and over again.
"They need to do math in order to figure out how to get their robot to do what they want it to do," Domer explains. "The kids don't want to do math in the summer, but they want their robot to succeed, so they end up doing the math."
That's the point of the Kids Lab Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Camp that Fort Belvoir Elementary School is hosting this month: To teach kids that science can be fun.
"It's all hands on science and engineering," said Kara Fahy, STEM focus teacher for FBES.
Kids Lab is running two sessions over four weeks focusing on Rovers, Robots and Beyond. Next week, the school will be buzzing with even more students as they attend Camp Invention from July 21 to Aug. 1, another summer camp that will inspire students to solve problems, create and discover the spirit of invention.
"Both are STEM intensive," Fahy said.
Both camps have welcomed a total of 300 students to the summer-time classrooms where they learn and apply STEM sciences in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Most of the first through seventh grade students come from FBES, but about 30 are attending from other elementary schools in the area. Only FBES students will be attending Camp Invention, which is supported by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Kids Lab is sponsored by the Department of Defense Educational activity, and Camp Invention is sponsored by the Army.
"They are applying the math they know to solve problems," Fahy said.
That application was obvious in Domer's class, as students used a computer program to tell their robot exactly what to do, before they unplugged it from the computer and set it on the ground. At the press of a button, each robot twirled or accelerated. The end result is to get the robots to achieve a simple task, as in picking up an astronaut, or powering up a solar panel made out of LEGO bricks.
"Kids are used to using remote controls to control robots, but this is purely programming," Domer said.
Back in the Sea Perch lab with Reinhardt, students were indeed using remote controls -- this time to submerge their robots in water and control them, just like a marine biologist might do to study marine wildlife deep in the ocean.
"We're exposing the children to (future) career choices," Fahy said. "We're showing them how they can use this technology."
Sea Perch is open to students starting grade seven in the fall, but all of the other parts of Kids Lab are for students in grades six and lower.
"It's really exciting. We're able to reach all students at all levels," she said.
In the school's gym, teachers adapted a science lesson about space exploration into a fun, physical game for younger students. Students learned how to build a mock "asteroid" out of hula hoops, and then hurled spiked balls representing space debris at an opposing team's asteroid. They then practiced a fun robot dance set to music.
The instructors for both Kids Lab and Camp Invention are either FBES or other local school teachers. Domer, a STEM teacher at Key Middle School in Springfield, Va., said the camp doesn't disguise math, but it does make it fun.
"I haven't had one kid come out of this class and not have fun," she said.
When Camp Invention starts up next week, Fahy said the students will start out in "Base Camp," or home room, and rotate through the classrooms. The curriculum is inspired by some of the world's greatest inventors and is developed through partnerships with USPTO and the Collegiate Inventors Competition. This year the camp is titled "Morphed!" Students will get hands-on experience building prototypes, creating a personalized motor-powered vehicle and disassembling electronics to build an insect-themed pinball machine.
The teachers will be supported by student educators from local high schools, as well as Marymount University students. Throughout the camp, students will journal about their experience and discuss what they have learned. This is the fourth year FBES has hosted STEM camps, and Fahy said the interest is getting greater every year.
"It's really exciting to see the program grow and the students love it," she said.
The program has proved to be successful, as many students stick with it as they go through elementary school.
"They come back," Fahy said. "If we can hook them (in the STEM fields early on), that's every teacher's hope."
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