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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Merced, CA

The Merced, CA metro area has about 297,260 residents, ranking 174th in the country. The case for engineering summer camp here is not that the area lacks camps — it is that most of them end without the child being able to explain what they made.

Ages 7-14 · For families · California · West

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Merced, CA
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Merced, CA

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

Merced, CA — what applies locally

  • The Merced, CA metro area has about 297,260 residents, ranking 174th in the country.
  • Metro area: Merced, CA
  • State: California · Region: West

Questions we get from Merced, CA

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 Merced

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Engineering Camp elsewhere in California

Los Angeles, CAMetro areaRiverside, CAMetro areaSan Francisco, CAMetro areaSan Diego, CAMetro areaSacramento, CAMetro areaSan Jose, CAMetro areaFresno, CAMetro areaBakersfield, CAMetro area

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