Summer Science Camp Completes Seventh Year!

This year 145 students (4th - 10th grade) joined a talented hard-working teaching staff of 28 for two weeks of science investigations. The camp has the goal of providing a quality science experience for area youth in addition to providing an opportunity for future K-12 teachers to teach science in a supportive environment. While kids are on campus for 2 weeks the teaching staff is on campus for three weeks. CSULB preservice teachers team with area mentor teachers to plan and teach inquiry science lessons to kids. A large number of CSULB offspring attended the camp this summer.

The topics for summer 2006 were Cool Chemists, Science of Toys & Games, Color, Sight & Sound, Crime Solvers, and Intriguing Investigations. Campers visited the campus scanning electron microscope, went on field trips to Cabrillo Aquarium, the Orange County Police Department's Forensic Lab and had numerous guest lecturers.

The camp is supported by Long Beach GEAR UP. This summer 80 high school students attended the camp as part of their GEAR UP program. This is the fourth year of a five year partnership with Long Beach Unified. The picture at left shows the Poly HS and Cabrillo HS students and their teachers. We look forward having them back on campus next summer at the Summer Science Institute and hope to see them here as freshman in 2008.

Below you can read what Teaching Associates and campers to say about the program.

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Science Camp Cool Chemistry
Henry Pickett (Camper)

This year I had a great time at Science Camp. We did three great things in chemistry. Number one was making butter. Step one to making butter is to put a marble in a baby food jar and fill it halfway with whipping cream. Step two, shake for from 10 to 15 minutes. We also tested the sewage water for pH, and it was neutral (pH=7). So anything could live in it. And we put some raw eggs in vinegar and left them there for a few days. On the last day for Science Camp, we took them out, and felt them. We noticed that the shell was gone and all that was left keeping the raw egg inside was membranes. And, if you put enough pressure on them, they would just pop! I hope everyone has as good a time as I had!

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Science Camp: Toying with Science
Robert Pickett (Camper)

This year, I had a great time at science camp I learned about energy. We also got to use toys and record what kind of energy it used, and about the conversion of energy {when one type of energy is changed into another}. There were also a few types of goo we got to play with. For example, there's oobleck. It's a substance that is liquid when it's left alone and solid when it's under pressure. I hope you have as good a time as I did.

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Summer Science Institute 2006
Joyce Andrews (Teaching Assistant)

My experience as a Teaching Associate at the Summer Science Institute (SSI) in August 2006 involved collaborating with an enthusiastic group of camp directors, a science education researcher, Lead Teachers and Teaching Associates. I worked in one of the four SSI classrooms with my Lead Teacher Ron Rita and another Teaching Associate Heather Greenwood. (Picture at left shows teammates Heather, Joyce & Ron working out lessons and activities.) We called our classroom the "Rocket Scientists". After one week of training seminars and intensive preparation for our class, the students arrived!

It was apparent on the first day that our students were hand-picked for this program! Our 14 students were chosen by their teachers at Polytechnic and Cabrillo High Schools in Long Beach because they were future "college candidates". We worked for two weeks with the students on activities that were designed to provide students with hands-on experiences as scientists. We made three formulations of Glubber, a substance similar to Silly Putty, and compared the Glubber according to the results of five tests. Students then designed and performed their own experiments on consumer products such as Frisbees, bubbles, paper plates, and rubber bands. Students made Powerpoint presentations of their experiments and conclusions to present to the class on the last day of the SSI. We took the students on a field trip to Cabrillo Aquarium where students looked at the exhibits, sampled sand crabs along transects on the inner and outer beaches, tested water quality in the inner beach adjacent to the Los Angeles River and LA Port, and used microscopes in the research lab. Mussels were collected at Cabrillo and taken back to our CSULB classroom where we performed mussel dissections. Some of the students had never dissected an organism before but performed skillfully! Students measured mussel gill volume and body volume, and statistically compared their data to gill volume data taken by scientific researchers at deep-sea vents. The students proved that they really were "Rocket Scientists" by their skill in designing rockets that would launch the highest and stay in the air the longest. Students calculated the height of each rocket using a "Clinometer" angle and their distance from the rocket launcher. Students designed bridges to span 24 inches and hold 10 lb weight. During the final two days of the SSI, we conducted final tests on the rockets and bridges, and attended presentations by a CSULB professor who showed a Rosy Boa snake and two types of lizards, a CSULB student from Long Beach who related his university experiences, and a CSULB Student Services speaker who spoke about the importance of attending college. The students worked hard and accomplished a great deal in the SSI, but one of the best rewards to me was to hear the students say that they wanted to go to college, and that they would start taking steps to make college a possibility for them.

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Reflections on Young Scientists Camp
Jeff Siemens (Teaching Assistant)

My experience teaching as a TA ( Teaching Assistant ) at the Young Scientists Camp was most rewarding. I am so grateful for the opportunity. After finishing up an intense 18 month credential program at CSULB in June, which concluded with a tough internship at a middle school in Long Beach, this camp was a very refreshing way to reenter the teaching mode in preparation for my first full-time teaching assignment this coming school year.

The Young Scientists Camp is an ideal opportunity to practice our craft among fellow educators at various stages of their teaching journey. Whether one is a seasoned teacher, a new teacher, or an aspiring teacher, this highly collaborative, low-keyed, yet professional teaching venue offers just the right amount of structure, flexibility, and support to develop one's teaching skills, rekindle one's passion, and to reflect on what does and doesn't work in order totry new improved ways of teaching various science subjects.

The leadership of the camp has created a fun idyllic three week learning environment for all involved. The teachers learn from each other through the pre-camp planning sessions, classroom observations, feedback discussions, and short demonstrations of successful lesson plans. The kids, many of whom have been attending the camp each summer since 4th grade, seem genuinely interested in the adventure of scientific discovery. Everyone forms new relationships by the end of the camp and a new respect and enjoyment for science as a way of understanding our world.

My favorite experience was the open house on the last day of camp. There were parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and grand parents who came to our classroom to receive a tour from our students of the various labs and activities our seventh graders had engaged in during their two weeks of instruction. There is nothing quite like being able to hear young people share with their family members in their own words what they have learned.

I came away from Young Scientists Camp with new ideas, new relationships, and a new appreciation for what can happen when science is taught in the right learning environment. It was the perfect kick start for me. Good-bye summer. Hello school year!

Thanks Dr. Laura for your vision, direction, and passion.

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Young Scientist's Camp Reflection
Mary Olson (Teaching Assistant)

This summer I participated for the first time in the Young Scientist's Camp. It was by far the best three weeks of my summer break! I learned so much from my lead teachers about integrating science curriculum, classroom management and working with others. I worked with 10th graders for the first time and, although I was nervous about it at first, I quickly overcame my fears with one look at their eager faces. They were so excited about the projects we were doing, especially the mussel dissection lab.

This experience allowed me to try out teaching ideas that I have had and a chance to develop as a beginning teacher. There was so much support, not only from my lead teachers and teaching partner, but also from Dr. Laura, Kim, Shellinda and Jill. I am so grateful to have had this chance to teach at the Young Scientist's Camp and hope to participate again next summer.

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