Camp Invention fosters creativity, team work

Eighty students from local elementary schools are exploring Mars, renovating an art museum’s sculpture garden and rebuilding a polluted town this week.

They are accomplishing these feats through Carver Elementary School’s sixth Camp Invention, an educational experience aimed at fostering creativity, teamwork, inventive thinking and science literacy among the students.

Camp director Robin Bessenger, along with a staff of four teachers and six student counselors, are working with the students in the camp, which is open to children entering first through sixth grades.

Sean Jowers, 15, a former Camp Invention participant, decided to return as a counselor and help students build an interest in science and technology.
A student at West Florence High School, he said the camp has, in some ways, inspired his future career goal of becoming an architect. He wants to attend Georgia State University.

“It was fun to come here and invent things,” Sean said. “We had to really think hard about the design (of projects) and we had to use different materials to design what we were making. It kind of inspired me.”

Each day, students participate in modules where they learn about creativity, problem-solving, cooperation and teamwork, and investigative skills.
“Children who attend Camp Invention learn skills that enhance their abilities to brainstorm, solve problems and work in teams,” Bessenger said. “I am amazed at what they can come up with.”

During the “M.A.R.S. (Moving at Rocket Speed)” module, camp participants had to plan and execute a trip to Mars and designed their own rover vehicle. In “Art Park,” the students designed pieces of art for a sculpture garden in an attempt to save a museum from the threat of losing donations. For “Saving Sludge City,” the group rebuilt and cleaned a polluted city using recyclable items from their homes, making the “city” a more eco-friendly environment for its residents.

And in “I Can Invent,” the campers took apart unused household items to create their own inventions.
On Friday, the students’ inventions are being shown during the Inventors Showcase, where parents can tour each room to see the students’ final projects. The showcase will begin at 2:45 p.m.

Students who had the ingenuity and the will, but not the finances, to come to camp could participate, thanks to such sponsors as ACS Technologies, Roche Carolina and Honda of South Carolina Manufacturing Inc. of South Carolina, which provided some scholarships.

Camp Invention began in 1990 as an education outreach program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation in Akron, Ohio, with support from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, according to its Web site, http://www.campinvention.org.

This summer, more than 60,000 children are expected to participate in Camp Invention.

The S.C. Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville also will serve as a host site for Camp Invention, July 14-18, for students entering grades one through six.

For details, call (800) 968-4332 or visit http://www.campinvention.org, or call the Governor’s School outreach office at (843) 383-3901, ext. 3941.