How To Attend Summer Camp Without Leaving Your House
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What’s the Latest Development?
Kids, teens, and anyone else who’s suffering from summer break boredom — and has access to Google+ — can now attend MAKE Magazine’s second annual Maker Camp online. The free camp, which launched Monday (July 8) and will run for six weeks, enables participants to “make cool projects, go on epic virtual ‘field trips’ and meet awesome makers,” says MAKE founder and publisher Dale Dougherty. True to its name, the camp offers instructions on how to make 30 new things, each of which will give campers the chance to brush up on STEM skills.
What’s the Big Idea?
Google+ spokesperson Elizabeth Markman notes the United States’ lag in math and science skills and measures it against the millions of available jobs requiring some kind of STEM proficiency. The resulting gap, she says, is “potentially exacerbated by summer slide for students. However, there seem to be more resources than ever making it possible to supplement traditional education with online education that could close this up.” Last year’s inaugural Maker Camp was attended by a million participants, according to the Google blog.
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