Equinor Summer STEM Camps Offer Educational Fun
Offerings Included Robotics, Raspberry Pi Programming and Extreme Science
Building and testing hurricane-proof homes. Programming robots to navigate obstacle courses. Designing working apps for a smartphone. Creating catapults to explore parabolas.
These activities were part of the diverse set of offerings at the University of Houston Equinor Summer STEM Camps. Designed for students entering grades 5 through 8 in the fall, campers could register for one week or multiple weeks.
These camps integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts, offering students fun, hands-on activities that are also educational.
“Campers make new friends, enhance their problem solving and critical thinking skills, and get an opportunity to explore college life at an early stage,” said Perri Segura, clinical associate professor of mathematics, and director of the Equinor Summer STEM Camps.
Themes Integrate STEM Concepts
Camp themes included topics such as ‘Create with Raspberry Pi,’ ‘Crime Scene Investigators,’ ‘App Inventors’ and ‘Robotics.’ This year, new themes included ‘Magical Math,’ ‘Extreme Science,’ ‘Drones’ and ‘Arduinos,’ which was an intermediate-level computer programming camp.
All in all, the summer lineup included nine different themes, with weeklong camps that ran from June 3 to July 19.
“These camps help students avoid summer brain drain, by immersing them in hands-on, dynamic STEM activities,” Segura said.
Camps Organized and Hosted by teachHOUSTON
The Equinor Summer STEM Camps were organized and hosted by teachHOUSTON, which is a collaboration between UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and College of Education. The teachHOUSTON program offers undergraduates the opportunity to graduate with a STEM degree as well as a secondary teaching certificate.
Camps were taught by a lead teacher, who was a teachHOUSTON alum and certified teacher. teachHOUSTON undergraduates served as camp counselors and assisted the lead teachers.
“The undergraduate students serving as camp counselors gained invaluable teaching experience,” Segura said.
Funding for the camps was provided by the energy company, Equinor.
Rachel Fairbank, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics