For the second year in a row Mount Airy City Schools offered Camp Invention as part of its science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) program.

Camp Invention, a 25-year-old program which began in Akron, Ohio, is a curriculum-based program which focuses on the development of “creative, inventive-thinking skills,” according to the city school system.

“At Camp Invention, there is no right or wrong answer. Many of the projects focus on process. Children learn through trial and error,” said Shelia Chase, STEAM instructor at Mount Airy High School. She was in charge of overseeing the staff and program at Camp Invention.

All totaled, the Mount Airy summer program hosted 34 participants attended this week, along with the director, two instructors, four leadership interns, two counselors-in-training, a camp parent and a parent volunteer. The program’s goal is to keep the student-to-adult ratio no higher than 8-to-1.

During the camp children rotated through a schedule that included four modules each day and incorporated a variety of hands-on activities ranging from creating an invention from a discarded household appliance to brainstorming their way home from a strange planet.

This week children used gears and gadgets from dissected machines and other materials to create prototypes of inventions that they believed will help improve the world.

There is not a lot of emphasis placed on inventing a working device in five days; rather, emphasis is placed on fostering inventive-thinking and creative problem-solving skills through immersion that will serve children throughout their lives, according to Chase.

“Of course, there are children who leave the program with a working invention. Recent inventions include insect catchers, ball-throwing robots, arm extenders made out of PVC pipes and other innovations,” she said.

Each leadership intern is assigned to one group of children and up to two counselors-in-training for the week.

“The leadership interns mentored their CITs, set a tone of excitement and team spirit for the week; facilitated activities as needed, helped all participants engage in the experience, supported participants in problem solving and assisted in providing a safe environment,” said Chase.

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