The Long Beach Public Schools made sure young minds had many ways to stay busy this summer through a partnership with Camp Invention. For the first time, this five-day program was offered to district students for two consecutive weeks, opening more opportunities for participants to imagine, learn and make discoveries through inquiry-based learning.

Camp Invention focuses on the four components of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – while encouraging collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. Students in grades 1-6 rotate between sessions that prompt them to make discoveries through engagement in hands-on activities.

The campers use upcycled materials as an environmentally conscious way to experiment and explore. Long Beach High School students volunteered as counselors and counselors-in-training, and staff members throughout the district served as camp teachers.

During the week of July 10, attendees experienced various aspects of space and science in a Mission Space Makers session, brought physics to life in Have a Blast challenges, used their innovation skills in a Duct Tape Billionaire workshop and investigated the inner workings of machines in Operation Keep Out.

Throughout the week of July 17-21, students designed and launched space ships in a Problem Solving on Planet ZAK workshop, created and marketing rollercoasters in Imagination Point: Ride Physics, thought strategically about ways to combat pollution in a Saving Sludge City session and developed their own inventions through I Can Invent activities.