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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Hillsboro, OR

Parents in Hillsboro, OR book summer in February and regret it in July. Hillsboro is one of the cities the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area is officially named after. What separates a week worth repeating is whether the child was ever genuinely stuck and then unstuck.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Oregon · West

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Hillsboro, OR
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Hillsboro, OR

What the week actually is

Engineering week is constraints week. A bridge that must hold a weight, with a fixed pile of materials and a deadline. Children who have never been told no by a problem before meet one here, and learn that the answer is a redesign, not a tantrum.

Day by day

  1. Constraints and a materials budget
  2. First build, first collapse
  3. Redesign from what failed
  4. Load test to destruction, record the number
  5. Showcase: defend the design choice

Hillsboro, OR — what applies locally

  • Hillsboro is one of the cities the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA metro area is officially named after.
  • Metro area: Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, OR-WA
  • State: Oregon · Region: West

Questions we get from Hillsboro, OR

What do they build?
Load-bearing structures, simple machines, catapults, water filters — physical things that either work or fall over.
Is it messy?
Yes. That is not incidental.
Do they work alone or in teams?
Both. Solo build first, then a team build where they have to defend a design choice out loud.

Other camp themes in Hillsboro

Engineering Camp elsewhere in Oregon

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