ExploreHope

Hello, my name is Evan Pepper, and I am one of the camp leaders for ExploreHope’s Summer Science Camps! I will be a Junior at Hope College this fall and am majoring in Secondary Special Education. This is my first summer working for ExploreHope, and it has been a blast so far! All the kids are amazing and have been so much fun to spend time with!

In this post, I will be sharing my experience with Step-Up and their trip to ExploreHope this summer. During the time I spent with them, we gathered and analyzed soil from the field and worked on a separate literacy component to get the kids excited about reading over the Summer! One of my favorite activities in this camp was analyzing the soil we gathered from different locations and comparing the results. It was great practice and a fun way to provide many of the campers with their first-ever lab experience with multiple steps and fieldwork. Another great activity was our reading component, which was a literary analysis ofA Wrinkle In Time!As a class, we read the book in many different ways, including popcorn reading and group reading.

One activity that the kids can do at home is just reading. Literacy is so important, especially for children. Creating a love of reading at a young age is so helpful for a child’s future! For example, we readA Wrinkle In Timeand finished that book, then also provided the students with another book,Fish in a Tree,so that they will be able to continue reading when they leave camps. Another activity would be buying cheap soil testers from a place like Menards and testing the soil in a garden at home to see if it is good soil for the plants.

Again, this camp was great because we got to work on skills that will be useful for their future science classes as they continue through middle and high school. I am so happy that I was able to lead this camp, and also so proud of how much the campers were able to complete during the week! I love that we are able to provide these experiences to young students at ExploreHope summer camps.

My name is Kate, and this week I had the joy of teaching Science of Art here at ExploreHope Science Camps. Throughout the week, we used science concepts like capillary action, hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances, and light/color, to make amazing art. Students got to explore how materials interact as they painted, created, and were encouraged to think outside the box.

As we created projects during the week, students were able to keep their finished projects in anticipation of our Science of Art Exhibition at the end of the week. Families and friends were invited to come to our classroom where we had worked all week, where students were prepared by setting up all their finished work. Students could tell their friends and families how they created each piece of art and what the science behind each piece was.

Overall, this camp was a spectacular intersection between science and art. Students got creative, learned a lot, and were eager and enthusiastic about each and every project.

Hi! My name is Annie Kuiper, this upcoming fall I will be a Junior here at Hope College. I am going into elementary special education with a focus on learning disabilities. Something that really excited me about camps was getting more experience about what it’s like to be working with kids in a classroom setting. I also thought that the camps were interesting and super unique. The first camp I led was the Harry Potter camp, I was extremely excited for this camp and to find out what it was all about. With no surprise, I absolutely loved it! One aspect of the camp is learning about herbology (the study of different plants). The other concepts we talk about and do activities with are learning spells, making potions, creating our wands, and learning about the different mythical creatures that the wizarding world has!

Some of my favorite memories from this camp were having owls come to the camp and seeing four different kinds of owls. These owls were so cute to look at and also interesting to hear about. Another popular thing that happened at camp was the quidditch tournament, the campers all got their very own broomstick and competed against the other houses for the grand prize. A fun home activity that you can do with your family is making a mandrake! We learned about mandrakes on herbology day. To make a mandrake, all you need to do is get a small clay pot, a sheer nylon sock, fast seed grow, soil, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and glue. Put the fast seed grow in first, then soil, tie it off, and put the nylon in the pot with the fast grow seed facing up. The pipe cleaners are to make a smiley face or whatever your heart desires! Googly eyes are for the eyes— some like to add more than two :). This activity is fun for the kids to make and also a cute plant to have in your house! When the plant grows it will grow out of the top of the nylon, making the mandrake look like it has hair. To keep your mandrakes hair nice and neat make sure to keep it watered, just enough to make it damp but not too much to drown it, and then snip its hair to keep it clean.

大家好!我叫艾莉·约翰斯顿今年是我在探索希望工作的第一年!我将是一个大三在秋季学习早期儿童教育。这些夏令营是我这个夏天最精彩的部分，每天都能看到营员们从车里跳出来，迫不及待地要出发。没有什么比看营员自豪地展示他们完成的工艺品更让我高兴的了。

在过去的一周里，我领导了酷小动物和小爬虫营，也被称为Bug营!我们花了一周的时间学习不同的常见bug，为什么我们需要bug，以及如何建立我们自己的bug栖息地!因为这是虫营，每天结束的时候都会在沙普科学中心和百年公园外面捉虫!大多数露营者回家时只带了几只蠕虫，运气好的话还会带一只蜘蛛，还有大约10只圆球!

One of my favorite parts of camp was bee day! Campers learned all about the pollination process as well as pretended to be bees and pollinated other campers’ flowers! Campers were very excited to make their own bee hive and then share a sweet honey treat! While bee day was a great hit, it was clear the campers loved butterfly day! Each camper made a unique butterfly using watercolors and clothespins. We did a gallery walk so campers were able to see how different colors blended together. As a fun way to carry their butterfly home, we made butterfly feeders! The parents were given a recipe for how to make nectar to attract butterflies to their yard.
我喜欢这个夏令营的原因是，露营者在泥土里挖洞，寻找新虫子，非常有趣。每天结束时，露营者都满身是泥，脸上挂着灿烂的笑容。这个营地充满了活动，任何监护人都很容易帮助和帮助培养一个虫爱好者的知识!我非常感谢这份工作，以及我将通过这些夏令营继续学习的一切!

欢迎回到可爱的科学家们的STEM@Home博客。我叫露西，今年我负责带领“探索希望”夏令营。我将是Hope小学教育专业的大四学生，我非常期待和孩子们一起在营地工作。能和营员们一起度过这宝贵的时光真是太令人兴奋了。我带领了过山车夏令营，孩子们通过创造、合作和运用他们的想象力来创造和发现新的想法，他们玩得很开心。他们让我的情绪像过山车一样起伏不定。

在这个营地里，营员享有自由。我们设定他们需要创造的特定活动和产品。然而，我们并没有给他们步骤或任何类型的严格指导。这个夏令营是关于他们发现和创造他们自己做的东西。我们还帮助他们学习新的想法和术语，这将有助于他们认识周围的科学。我们向他们介绍了他们世界里的科学。

There were so many wonderful memories created. One has to be when the kids were challenged with balancing a lever. They had to put certain items on one end and balance it with crayons on the other. They had so much fun trying to decide how many they needed. They even started putting their own items on one end, like sunglasses, and measuring those. Another was when they made chain reactions. They had fun finding a way to complete a task that wasn’t direct. They had fun trying to find a way of making a simple machine work as well. They worked together well and had such amazing ideas of how to make them work. They had so much fun with it.

他们和我都喜欢的一个简单的活动是棉花糖弹射器。这是我们在孩子们学习动能和势能时做的一个活动。他们能够制造自己的弹射器，并发射棉花糖，看看它能飞多远。用的是橡皮筋、胶带、冰棒棒、勺子和一个小棉花糖。我有一个特定的模型，他们可以使用一个想法。然而，我只能让它走得高而不远。他们需要用自己的模型来解决这个问题。我的模型是三根冰棒棒叠在一起，两端各有一根橡皮筋。然后我把它拉回来，展示势能，以及它如何变成动能。总的来说，在过山车夏令营中，孩子们有很多机会来练习他们解决问题、发明和创造的技能，同时结交新朋友，扩大他们对科学的热爱!

你好!

My name is Megan McCormick, and I am working at Explore Hope Science Camp this summer! I am a recent Hope graduate with a degree in Elementary Education. I will be teaching third-grade at West Ottawa this fall! I was excited to return to science camp this summer because I love how camp provides children the opportunity to explore scientific concepts while having tons of fun doing it!

This summer, I had the privilege of teaching a camp called Art in Nature where campers were able to learn the science behind nature/the world around us while creating awesome nature based crafts. We explored topics such as light waves/how we see color, photosynthesis, the lifecycle of plants/fruit, cholorphyll, nature self-portariats, 2D/3D art, mineral and crystal formation, camoflouge, and so much more! We had the opportunity to visit the animal museum and even got to look at real crystals from the Geology department!

Each morning, the campers arrived excited and ready to create each day! We created various crafts including sun catchers, natural paints and paint brushes, clay bowls, seed landscape portraits, fish tesselations, UV light flowers, fruit stamps, and more! We got to explore both the scientific concepts as well as art elements such as patterns and texture!

One of my favorite crafts that we made were nature based sun catchers! This is a simple and fun craft you can make at home! First, cut a circle out of the middle of the paper plate. Then, buy some contact paper from a craft store. Once you cut out the contact paper to fill in the circle, add nature items to the middle such as leaves or flowers! Lastly, use a hole puncher to make a hole on the top and tie a string through it. You can hang it up in your house! This fun craft can remind kids about the process of photosynthesis and how leaves “capture” the sunlight to help them create oxygen and glucose!

我带领这个夏令营很开心，营员们也玩得很开心!营员可以成为艺术家和科学家，有机会探索、创造，最重要的是，有乐趣!

大家好，我叫肖恩·杜默，今年秋天我将成为希望大学的一名新生。我将主修环境科学，并计划辅修计算机科学。我很兴奋能和今年的露营者一起工作!

Video Game Making Camp is a camp based around learning the very early stages of coding. The program that we use to bring camper’s video game ideas to life is called Scratch. When you go into Scratch you are faced with a blank area and a list of command blocks that you can use to make the character or sprite do what you want it to do. You can make it move via the arrow keys, you can make it move with your mouse, and you can even add timers and scores! You can try it out yourself athttps://scratch.mit.edu/

It is a very exciting camp for the campers to learn the basics of coding. If they are really passionate about what they learn, then they can participate in more coding camps offered by ExploreHope like Python and Inventing in 3D.

The biggest thing I learned from teaching this camp is how important it is to have a good working relationship with all the lead and assistant teachers during camps. It was very helpful when I had to keep track of 24 smaller campers and had a few extra pairs of eyes that could help me out in that regard. I am learning something new every week and I am grateful for my assistants.

大家好!我叫阿什利·劳雷恩，这是我在探索希望科学夏令营工作的第六年了。明年我将在霍普大学读大二，将在兽医预科的轨道上主修生物学。我非常喜欢这些夏令营，喜欢看到当一项实验成功或他们的工艺完美时，露营者的眼睛闪闪发光!我非常兴奋地与你们分享我一直以来最喜欢参加的夏令营之一!

这周我带领大家深入解剖!解剖是我的爱好之一，我很高兴能够与我的露营者分享这一点。我在他们这么大的时候也参加过这个夏令营!该课程涵盖了不同生物的解剖结构，包括鱿鱼、角鲨、豹蛙、鸽子和胎猪。这个夏令营的主要目的是让孩子们深入探索标本的解剖结构，了解更多动物王国不同类别之间的比较生理学知识。

One of my favorite parts of the week was the dissection of the fetal pig. The entire class was interested as I explained how each organ in the pig interacted with the full animal. They also were very excited when I allowed them to take out and unwind the digestive system. We did this with each of our specimens over the course of the week and compared the length and organ make-up of each one.

本周的另一个亮点是鲨鱼胃解剖。许多角鲨的胃里有未消化或部分消化的食物，露营者有机会打开它们，试图识别里面有什么。我们发现了很多磷虾，甚至还发现了一种被部分消化的爬行/两栖动物，这是因为我们发现了一颗完整的三腔心脏和一些肠道碎片!

在家里进行解剖是一项困难的活动，但只要使用合适的材料，就可以做到。解剖盘和工具可以在亚马逊上买到，价格不到30美元，而小一些的标本，比如一只老鼠，或者羊的大脑或心脏等单个器官，最低只需15美元。在仔细的监督下，解剖可以是一个在家的活动，可以教您的露营者关于解剖学和生理学的惊人的主题!

Hello Super Scientists! My name is Chloe Smith and I am on staff this summer running camps at ExploreHope. I will be a senior this fall studying Early Childhood Education. This is my first year on staff, and I am excited about what is in store for the summer! It has already been a joy watching campers learn and engage with science in new ways.

I loved kicking off a fun summer of science by leading the Super Science Sampler camp for grades K-2. Super Science Sampler is a unique camp because it offers campers the opportunity to learn about a different subject every day! The topics we cover include: Cool Critters and Crawlies, Prehistoric Planet, Club Vet, Tykes LEGO, and Crazy Chemistry. There were so many wonderful moments from our first week of SSS, but I’ll keep it brief and just highlight a couple!

On Club Vet day, the campers got to take a trip to the VanKley Animal Museum here at Hope. The museum staff taught campers about all of the animals they care for and even let them use a “brave, one finger touch” to pet a few of them! Campers loved hearing stories about each animal’s quirks. They met a sleepy lizard, a temperamental tarantula, and a cuddly guinea pig (wearing a tiara)!

On Tykes LEGO day, campers got to take on the role of engineers while they designed and built cars. It was great watching campers work together to come up with the best design for their car. They then took turns racing their cars outside and cheering each other on. After all, what’s camp without a bit of friendly competition?

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store as we welcome new campers each week!

你好!我叫内奥米·甘尼森秋天我就要上Hope的大二了。我在医学预科学习神经科学辅修西班牙语。我希望有一天能成为一名儿科医生，帮助孩子们在医生办公室里获得积极的体验。一直以来，我都很喜欢学习人体知识，也很想帮助我所在的社区，所以医学预科选择了我。世界杯英格兰队vs丹麦队足彩

当我发现探索希望夏令营的时候，我非常兴奋能有机会参与其中。这些夏令营结合了我最喜欢的两件事:科学和和孩子们一起工作!能看到营员在无压力的环境中体验如此多的快乐，真是不可思议。探索希望夏令营不仅给了我向孩子们教授科学的机会，而且还打开了与教授建立更密切关系的大门，提高了我的公开演讲技能，每天都过得愉快!

One of the camps that I led was the neuroscience camp. I worked alongside Dr. Welsch, a neuroscience professor at Hope College, and Riley, another neuroscience major, to make this camp happen. In this camp we explored everything related to the brain. The first day the students got to dissect a sheep brain and cow eye, and look at a real human brain!

这是一项非常吸引人的活动，因为当他们了解大脑的功能时，他们可以识别大脑的各个区域。这就是这些夏令营真正酷的地方:学生们可以享受动手学习的乐趣，没有被评分的压力。学生们要做的其他一些活动包括解剖小龙虾，以确定它们尾巴上细胞的动作电位，在工程实验室工作，评估我们对视觉和听觉刺激的反应时间的差异，甚至建立自己的脑电图来读取阿尔法脑电波!虽然这些概念很多都是相当先进的，但这个夏令营为年龄较大的学生提供了一个很好的机会来了解神经科学领域。我敢说这次夏令营真的让所有的营员都开心了起来，我迫不及待地想在接下来的几周看到更多快乐的营员!