Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Summer Learning Opportunities

  • By Jerry Enderle
  • 06/01/18

One of our readers contacted me recently to ask about STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Education, Art, and Math) programs that are held during the summer months. I told her I was aware of quite a few and would get back with her after I did a little research. As it turns out, there are a lot more programs than I realized. I had based my original perception on the significant number of press releases and emails I receive during the year, but that is just a very small sampling.

A large number of universities, colleges, museums, zoos, YMCAs, and even airports and private companies are offering these summer experiences. And many of them are free of charge, available through scholarships, or offered at very low cost. There are also a few designed to educate teachers and help them develop STEM-related curriculum.

All of the programs I found looked interesting. One unique program is the “She Can” Summer Camp, which has been developed by the Department of Education in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The camp is designed for female students with an interest in aviation and seeks to empower young women to succeed in STEM disciplines. During the two-week camp, the students will participate in a number of aviation activities, including hands-on flight instruction on FAA certified simulators, a 30-minute discovery flight with a local flight school, a high-altitude weather balloon launch and indoor skydiving. The camp is open to sixth through eighth grade girls who are considered underserved students in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

This is just one example among many designed, in some cases, to prevent the dreaded “summer slide”, or learning loss by kids, and in other cases to provide the opportunities for other students to enhance their skills through inventing, innovating, and entrepreneurial activities. I wish I had the chance to participate in on ones of these when I was a kid.

A Reminder

Our next issue is dated July/August, so you won’t receive another issue of School Planning & Management until about the middle of August.

Enjoy your summer.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management June 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Montclair State University Debuts New VR Facility

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently announced the completion of a new virtual reality learning facility developed in partnership with Dreamscape Learn, according to a news release. The 2,450-square-foot lab space is inside the College of Communication and Media building and will serve students pursuing careers in digital media, virtual reality, and content creation.

  • California District Opens New Continuation High School

    The Fort Bragg Unified School District (FBUSD) in Fort Bragg, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Noyo High School, a continuation high school that provides alternative education options for students in grades 6–12, according to a news release. The district partnered with Quattrochi Kwok Architects for design and FRC Inc. for construction, and the project’s funding came from Local Bond Measure B.

  • DLR Group Hires Three for Higher Education Practice

    Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it has brought three new hires on board to help shape its higher education practice in California and the northeast, according to a press release.