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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Ithaca, NY

Parents in Ithaca, NY book summer in February and regret it in July. The Ithaca, NY metro area has about 104,047 residents, ranking 356th in the country. What separates a week worth repeating is whether the child was ever genuinely stuck and then unstuck.

Ages 7-14 · For families · New York · Northeast

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Ithaca, NY
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Ithaca, NY

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

Ithaca, NY — what applies locally

  • The Ithaca, NY metro area has about 104,047 residents, ranking 356th in the country.
  • Metro area: Ithaca, NY
  • State: New York · Region: Northeast

Questions we get from Ithaca, NY

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 Ithaca

Engineering Camp elsewhere in New York

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