STEM Camps

STEM camps teach science, technology, engineering and math in a summer camp setting. Development in these areas promises to help children compete in the future. Also called maker camps, these are some of the most fun, interactive, and practically-oriented kids' camps available. Below, find STEM camps in Toronto, the rest of the GTA and throughout Ontario. 

The advantages of STEM camps for kids
STEM camps help prepare children for careers ahead of them. Kids with a budding interest in related subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) will engage in learning in a variety of areas. Activities they engage in in summer camp may also help them to decide on one of these disciplines over others.

• Curriculum in a STEM camp tends to be more advanced. Given that children in these camps are likely to be advanced learners, kids can more freely apply sophisticated learning. 
• Camps allow children to meet other kids outside of their school and neighbourhood friends, peers in the same city with a mutual interest in these disciplines.
• Kids in STEM camps learn through enjoyable, hands-on activities that explore learning in ways that are less structured and formal than in the classroom.

Camp curriculum will often be taught by guest experts and professionals in the field. For example, this can include university professors. The focus on (and love of) learning in these camps spreads from camp counselors, instructors and guests to the students. The best STEM camps create an impromptu community of lovers of learning, especially in these four disciplines.

Integrated learning
There are many kinds of educational camps, of course. There are advantages offered by camps that offer more precise specialization, such as you might get if you attend one of your local coding camps, programming camps or robotics for kids programs The advantage of a STEM camp for your budding learner is integration of these disciplines. If your child is very focused on mathematics, for example, he or she may only be interested in math camps. The same goes for children (and parents) seeking out science camps, technology camps or engineering camps. Your child may find that they have enjoy other interests and may broaden their horizons through time in a local STEM camp.

STEM, STEAM and other variations
In the acronym STEAM, the 'a' stands for arts. In a STEAM camp there is, by definition, an even greater integration of learning. The integration of arts is quite often, to be more specific, the integration of design principles.  Critics of the STEM approach look at this as a weakness, but its defenders note that their integrated approach does in fact connect with all other disciplines, including those more generally called the arts.

Still others create variations that are more inclusive. Some variant acronyms used, and which may be increasingly applied to camps in the coming years, include the following:

• STREM: Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering and Mathematics, adding robotics as a field.
• GEMS: Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science. For learning programs that encourage young women in science and technical fields.
• BEMS: Boys in Engineering, Math, and Science. Used for programs that encourage young men.
• STEMM: Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine.
• AMSEE: Applied math, science, engineering, and entrepreneurship

While this refers to a branded network of camps, this curriculum is now taught by STEM camps in Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere throughout the country, as listed on this page. The acronym is also used in education and other spheres.

STEM camps encourage children to participate in those four areas of learning.