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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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See below ...hope it helps.
Kathy Fournier
Vice President of Education
McWane Science Center
200 19th Street North
Birmingham, AL 35203
205-714-8254
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-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Catherine Paisley
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 11:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Whole lot of questions about summer camp
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Hello,
We are looking at our camp format for the future and would appreciate input from other camps. Hoping you may be able to respond to some (or all) of the questions below and/or send this email along to those responsible for camp in your Centres/Museums.
We appreciate any feedback you can share, either to the listserve or directly to me below.
•
• How many camp weeks do you run each summer?
10
• How many campers and camp groups do you have each week?
We have 160 - 200 slots available each week (depending on week we may offer a specialty camp in addition to our regular camps) we also have a morning and an afternoon session and many of the morning kids fill the afternoon slots so on average we have about 100 per week)
We also hire a lot of summer educators to help!
• How many camps/themes do you run per week?
4K-K; 1st-2nd; 3rd-4th; 5th-6th; 6-ish weeks of 7th-9th and each have a morning theme and an afternoon theme so 4-5 camps each morning and afternoon each with a different theme. We also offer 6-ish weeks of themed camps for YMCA groups of several age groups.
• How do you arrange your themes (by age, grades, other)?
Mostly by grade
• How do you arrange your campers (by age, grades, other)?
By grade..see above
• Do you limit the number of themes/camps that campers can participate during the summer?
NO. Some kids come all summer, all day. Which of course is bordering on abuse : ) but hey it works for us.
• If not, do you find campers get tired of the camp routine? If so, what do you do to avoid this problem?
We let them be special helpers if they are up to it. Mostly it isn’t a problem.
• How do you choose your camp themes?
Past popularity, some we will never be ever to change; current movies or topics in the news, current IMAX showings, basic topics in science with a twist for camp.
• Which types of themes are the most popular/easiest to sell out?
Robots, Harry Potter, movie making, dissections, crime scene
• How do you manage resource inventory of multiple camps running at the same time?
It is up to each individual instructor and I am sure it is not the most efficient use of resources but it tends to be all used up by the end of it all.
• How do you train staff on multiple themes?
Each instructor develops their own camp or adapts a past one to their own style. We do not go by a set "script" but let the instructors interests guide the class.
• How do you cover for ill or absent counselors?
Someone always steps up and is willing to teach them something even if they aren't exactly what was going to be taught that day.
• Who writes your camp programming? How long does this process take? At what time in the year does the writing take place?
Each instructor writes and develops their own curriculum. They review outlines with each other so as not to overlap activities, or at least diminish it. Slime might be Dinosaur snot one day but a true polymer demo the next in a different camp for a different age group.
• How long do you keep a theme in circulation at your camp?
Depends on the theme and the popularity. I am working on a 2 year rotating camp curriculum but will not be able to stay by this strictly as we have certain themes we do each year.
• Do you take campers out on field trips? If so where do you go?
We are in the middle of downtown so if we go anywhere it is a walking trip. Only once did we utilize a van and go to a creek for fossil hunting. Fun but stressful, staff intensive and not cheap. We can walk to an urban farm, do geo-caching outside, walk to the art museum and a few parks.
• Do you have outdoor space for campers to use? If so, do you include outdoor programs as part of your camp?
Not really.
• How many hours of hands-on science programming do campers participate in each day at camp?
In a 3 1/2 hour camp taking out snack time and bathroom breaks we probably average 2- 2 1/2 hours a day.
• How many exhibit hall visits or other science centre experiences do your campers take part in besides your science programming?
Depends on crowds and instructor comfort levels with taking out 25+ campers on to floor already teeming with 1000+ visitors. We try to give them floor time early or late. Some instructors don’t want the responsibility and don't offer it in their camp. If the them is directly related to an exhibit we make every effort to get them to that exhibit. If the IMAX is related to the theme we will take them to that as well but it is not guaranteed.
Thanks for your input,
Warm regards,
Angie Aucoin
Recreational and Family Program Leader
Ontario Science Centre
T 416-696-3173
M 416-676-9439
www.ontariosciencecentre.ca
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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