Does my child need coding experience?

No. The first day is drag-and-drop logic and the last day is text code for the kids who get there.

What hardware is used?

Standard classroom robotics kits, nothing proprietary, so schools and camps can keep using what they already own.

What if the robot never works?

Then we have a debugging week, which is the more valuable week. Nobody goes home without a working build.

Robotics Summer Camp in Belleville, IL

Parents in Belleville, IL book summer in February and regret it in July. Belleville has a population of about 42,895. What separates a week worth repeating is whether the child was ever genuinely stuck and then unstuck.

Ages 8-14 · For families · Illinois · Midwest

Robotics Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Belleville, IL

What the week actually is

Robotics is the fastest way to show a child that failure is information. A robot that turns left when you told it to turn right is not a judgment on the child, it is a bug, and bugs get found. That reframe is the actual curriculum.

Day by day

Build the chassis and get it moving
Sensors: make it react to the world
Program a task it fails at first
Debug day — find why it turns the wrong way
Showcase: run the course and explain the fix

Belleville, IL — what applies locally

Belleville has a population of about 42,895.
State: Illinois · Region: Midwest

Questions we get from Belleville, IL

Does my child need coding experience?: No. The first day is drag-and-drop logic and the last day is text code for the kids who get there.
What hardware is used?: Standard classroom robotics kits, nothing proprietary, so schools and camps can keep using what they already own.
What if the robot never works?: Then we have a debugging week, which is the more valuable week. Nobody goes home without a working build.

Other camp themes in Belleville

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Robotics Camp elsewhere in Illinois

Aurora, ILCity DeKalb, ILCity Oak Lawn, ILCity Calumet City, ILCity Crystal Lake, ILCity Addison, ILCity Normal, ILCity Romeoville, ILCity

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