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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Rochester, MN

The Rochester, MN metro area has about 231,184 residents, ranking 207th 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 · Minnesota · Midwest

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Rochester, MN
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Rochester, MN

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

Rochester, MN — what applies locally

  • The Rochester, MN metro area has about 231,184 residents, ranking 207th in the country.
  • Metro area: Rochester, MN
  • State: Minnesota · Region: Midwest

Questions we get from Rochester, MN

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 Rochester

Engineering Camp elsewhere in Minnesota

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