SCIENCE OF THE TIMES : Weeklong Adventure Camps Help to Take the Geek Factor Out of the Learning Equation
After 16 years of schooling, I have essentially retained two scraps of scientific knowledge:
1) When placed in a glass of tinted water and left on a sunny windowsill, a common celery stick will become . . . truly disgusting.
2) People with head colds make great lab partners. (“ You cut the thing open. You can’t smell anyway!”)
I could blame this lack of scholarship on my teachers, burdened as they were by large classes and microscopic budgets. But the fault is really mine. Like many of my classmates, I ranked the study of science extremely high on the geek scale, second only to flossing one’s teeth in the lunch shelter.
Things haven’t changed that much. There are still plenty of kids who consider science class a nerd’s no-man’s-land, and overtaxed teachers who lack the time and resources to correct their thinking.
Today’s kids do have one advantage my generation did not, however. Responding to a need for hands-on science education brought about by shrinking school budgets, several area businesses have developed programs they hope will ignite interest in science by stressing the fun of experimental learning.
Huntington Beach-based Science Adventures is one of these. Founded in 1979 by Bill Gregory, a former science teacher in the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District, Science Adventures has grown from a small field trip program at the Fullerton Arboretum to a network of in-school classes and special programs in 400 public and private schools from Ventura to San Diego counties; programs for Scouts and other youth groups, including home schools, are offered.
Science Adventures, which maintains offices in Huntington Beach and at the Fullerton Arboretum, also coordinates summer day camps at 50 sites across the Southland for children entering kindergarten through sixth grades. In Orange County, the sessions begin June 20 at eight locations: Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Orange, San Clemente and Yorba Linda.
Weeklong camps are offered in half-day or full-day sessions. There are five different themed sessions offered, including Science Detectives Camp, in which participants create their own 3-D decoders, metal detectors, flashlights and other tools to solve a “crime”; and Science Magic Camp, which has kids learning about physical science by creating “slime,” superballs and motorized inventions. Other sessions include Space Rocketry Camp, in which you build and launch your own model rocket; Animal Explorers Camp, which teaches animal anatomy with dissections and other projects, and a new session, Gizmos, Gadgets & Goop, which encourages children to learn how things work through hands-on exploration.
Camp sessions are led by credentialed teachers or graduate students who have completed Science Adventures’ training program, said Kerry De Line, the group’s marketing director. Children are grouped by age, and activities are tailored to meet that group’s abilities and interest, she added. Curricula, which are created by Science Adventures staff, are changed and updated each year.
This summer marks the 12th year Science Adventures has offered the summer camps, which cost $100 for a week of half-day sessions and $175 for full-day sessions. De Line admitted that some first-time campers, especially those in the upper grades, are initially pretty peeved with the idea of spending their vacation in science class, but once they’ve been introduced to the program, their outlooks change.
“Some of them come into camp with the concept that science is geeky,” she said.
“We want to turn kids on to the fact that science can be fun; we can teach them about animals, about solar systems . . . and it’s all hands-on.”
De Line says that a majority of summer camp participants come from Science Adventures’ in-school programs. Fees for the program are paid by each school’s PTA groups, through fund-raisers or by parents. Science Adventures also operates a separate, nonprofit foundation that provides scholarships for the summer camps to individual students. (There are no more scholarships available for the upcoming sessions, however.)
What: Science Adventures Summer Day Camps.
When: Summer sessions run Monday, June 20, through Aug. 26
Where: Camp sessions are held in Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Orange, San Clemente and Yorba Linda (see box on Page 11 for addresses).
Wherewithal: Weekly rates are $100 for half-day sessions; $175 for full day.
Where to call: (800) 472-4362
More Kid Stuff
IN IRVINE: ‘ENCHANTED FOREST’
Ladybugs, dinosaurs and a wolf with a conscience unite in this original ballet, premiering tonight, June 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Presented by the Academy of Dance, it features more than 100 dancers ages 3 to thirtysomething. $10. (714) 854-4646
IN COSTA MESA: FREE FLIGHT
Launch Pad, an interactive science center in Crystal Court, 3333 Bear St., will host free electricity workshops Saturday, June 18. On Sunday, June 19, the center marks its one-year anniversary with free admission and demonstrations of electricity, sight and sound. (714) 546-2061.
IN NEWPORT: ‘MAJOR ART/MINOR ARTISTS’
Sixty Santa Ana elementary school students display their works at Newport Harbor Art Museum through June 29. The exhibit caps off that district’s Special Studio art program for this year. Gallery admission: $2 to $4; under 12 is free. (714) 759-1122.
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Camps in O.C.
* Mile Square Regional Park, 16801 Euclid Ave., Fountain Valley
* Fullerton Arboretum, 1900 Associated Road, Fullerton
* William R. Mason Regional Park, 18712 University Drive, Irvine
* Mariner’s Park, Irvine Avenue at Dover Drive, Newport Beach
* Irvine Regional Park, 1 Irvine Park Road, Orange
* San Gorgonio Park, 2916 Via San Gorgonio, San Clemente
* Yorba Regional Park, 7600 E. La Palma Ave., Yorba Linda
Registration at all sites is handled through Science Adventures’ main office in Huntington Beach, (800) 472-4362.
