TERRE HAUTE —
As 9-year-old Ryan Liebermann took apart a DVD player, he also kicked around ideas about what he wanted to invent with the pieces.
“I’m not sure,” said the Riley Elementary student. “I think I want to invent some sort of baseball or golf simulator” that would show how far someone hit a ball and the power behind it.
Liebermann and about 96 other children entering grades one through three are attending Camp Invention this week at Indiana State University. The theme this week is “Camp Envision.”
At Camp Invention, children participate in hands-on science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a learning environment that encourages creativity and inventiveness.
Each day at the week-long camp, they attend five classes in which they take apart old machines and create new ones, learn about magnets, study inventors, play action/adventure games and stage their own “show” in which they invent gadgets that help solve viewer challenges.
At week’s end, “I hope they are excited about science and math and learning in general,” said Tim Moss, one of the camp’s directors. “I hope they just really want to know more and they have new questions as the result of trying to solve problems.”
The program is being conducted at the Bayh College of Education for the ninth year in a row. Camp directors are Tim Moss and Pat Wheeler.
The students are from Vigo and outlying counties, with a few visiting from out-of-state.
For Randy Spencer, a math teacher at Honey Creek Middle School, this is his 10th year to teach at Camp Invention. He is teaching the “I Can Invent” class, in which children take apart a machine and invent something new.
Older students will work as teams and invent Rube-Goldberg, multi-step machines that can burst a balloon.
The students are able to do something normally taboo at home — take something apart. “It’s like reverse engineering for them. They see how things work,” Spencer said.
He continues to teach at the camp year after year because “watching the kids’ enthusiasm gives me a lot of energy,” he said.
Another student in Spencer’s class early Monday afternoon was Eli Campbell, 11, who attends Staunton Elementary.
Wearing goggles, he disassembled a VCR. “I just want to take it apart and see what I can invent with the pieces,” he said. He wasn’t yet sure what he hopes to invent.
He also attended Camp Invention last year.
In another room, Todd Warren was teaching students about magnets in “Magnetropolis,” an island that has all the planet’s magnets.
“We talked about compasses and magnetic poles and how sailors determined which way they would go,” said Warren, who teaches at Dixie Bee Elementary.
On Monday, the students then built small boats using styrofoam, two straws, clay, a piece of paper and masking tape. They had to navigate their boats across water to get to an island, and they competed to see who could get a ship across the fastest.
On the boat, the students had to transport a passenger (a small toy parrot) and some “food” (two metal washers).
Students used their breath to create the wind that sailed their boats across the water.
“Are you ready to race?” Warren said to students. Eagerly, they lined up for their turn.
Sophie Hurst’s boat made it across the waterway (a baby pool) in 5.25 seconds. She then went back to the drawing boards to refine her design so it would go faster. “I have to change all kinds of things on it,” she said.
Hurst, 8, is a student at Sullivan Elementary. She likes science and also looks forward to creating her own invention.
The students will share their inventions and what they’ve learned Friday at an Inventor’s Showcase.
Last week, about 61 students attended Camp Invention, which had the theme of Camp Create.
Camp Invention is a program of Invent Now Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering invention and creativity.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.
News
Related Photos
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Take it apart to learn: Ten-year-old Heaven Johnson unscrews a portion of an emergency radio during a "take apart" class at Camp Invention on the Indiana State University campus Monday.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Working together: Camp Invention counselor Daniel Tanoos leads a brain storming session with his campers as they discuss ways to solve common problems with invention during a class Monday on the Indiana State University campus.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Wind powered: Camp Invention participant Christian Verst, 8, moves his boat across water with the help of a big breath, a straw and a sail during one of the camp's classes Monday at Indiana State University.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Hands on and brains on learning: Camp Invention counselor Sam Spencer, an Indiana State University student from Brazil, helps Ryan Liebermann, 9, remove the cover of an old DVD player during one of the camp's classes Monday in the Indiana State University campus.
Discussion
Students envision how things work by ‘reverse engineering’ at ISU camp
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