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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in State College, PA

The State College, PA metro area has about 157,393 residents, ranking 277th 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 · Pennsylvania · Northeast

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in State College, PA
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in State College, PA

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

State College, PA — what applies locally

  • The State College, PA metro area has about 157,393 residents, ranking 277th in the country.
  • Metro area: State College, PA
  • State: Pennsylvania · Region: Northeast

Questions we get from State College, PA

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 State College

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Engineering Camp elsewhere in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PAMetro areaPittsburgh, PAMetro areaAllentown, PAMetro areaHarrisburg, PAMetro areaScranton, PAMetro areaLancaster, PAMetro areaYork, PAMetro areaReading, PAMetro area

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