Last year, when we stood up to hit the GO button on Fall the world looked very different; kids were grabbing their shoes, water bottles flying everywhere, racing in-and-out of our front door. We said goodbye to Summer and all of our campers as they rushed off to start a new school year… Now, here we are a year later adjusting to pandemic life.
This "new normal" has our team reflecting on one of our favourite programs: World Builders Camp. The idea to teach a world building camp was inspired by our desire to blend nature and technology into our curriculum. We originally imagined lots of outdoor adventures that would help inspire kids to tackle a very big question: how would you build a better world for everyone? Kids are certainly no strangers to big and wild ideas, so the thought of solving world problems just seemed… too perfect.
Kids are certainly no strangers to big and wild ideas so the thought of solving world problems just seemed… too perfect.
Of course, we sat down to revise our original plans since all of the creative learning would have to happen online. We whipped out our new 3D Prusa printers and decided it was TinkerCAD time! The kids would help build a new world in space for a society of robot friends! The big question “to build a better world” would remain, but our campers would focus on creating an invention to solve one of four problems. The topics were Health & Food, Communication, Transportation, and Energy.
Check out our Top 5 World Builder Projects!
Boosted Phone by Dxainan (Communication)
This "boosted phone" invention has 1.9 TB storage, 48 GB memory, projects in 3D, and has a 1080p HD touchscreen.
Hover Puper Board by Adelaide (Transportation)
This invention is a banana-shaped hoverboard with mechanical puppies that can help carry your groceries.
Recharging Station by Ewan (Energy)
This recharging station uses renewable energy to operate and also has a maintenance centre at the back so robots can fix up their mechanical parts.
Garden by Julia (Health & Food)
This gardening centre has extra storage space for all of your tools so you can grow plants and bring them into the housing area for processing.
The campers were really mindful when creating their inventions and thought about ways it could be used by "robot citizens" who have differences. Throughout the camp we talked about biases in the technology world and explored the meaning of empathy. There were so many wonderful ideas and conservations, and we couldn't be more proud of our brilliant campers!