The Camps
Techie Camp is a full-day, week-long program designed to engage elementary and middle school students in hands-on, interactive, STEM-related activities. Students participate in one of several different types of camp experiences: App Development, Programming, Robotics, or Web Development.
The Camper Experience
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Campers in focus groups often reported their enjoyment of the Techie Camp experience.
During focus groups, students often expressed positive thoughts about their general Techie Club experience. Some of these are highlighted in the following quotes:
I really like the Camp. I've met a whole lot of new, awesome people, and I got new interests because I'm a really consistent person. I feel like if I don't like something I won't even do it. But this stepped me to step out of my comfort zone, and I'm more open to not being as consistent as I normally am.
We get to do a lot of stuff on the computer. We get to play sometimes. We get to do cool stuff with the pictures and put videos and make games. All that stuff. It was really fun.
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Campers in focus groups reported gains in several areas, from technology to social skills.
During focus groups, campers were quick to express the skills they had learned during Techie Camp. These included both technological skills as well as social skills. Several quotes below highlight this finding.
We learned the different programs. We learned the different blocks that there are. We learned action. We learned how to build robots. We learned how they work. All that type of stuff.
Also, for the Techie Camp, I had a lot more people that I knew from the first camp that I didn't really interact with. So Techie Camp really improved my social skills with other people.
Normally, some of the people who have more experience help out some of the people that have little knowledge. So we work on helping others and our friends, and teach some people some new stuff.
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Campers had high ratings of instructor satisfaction.
Questionnaire responses suggest that campers were very satisfied with camp instructors. Across all camps, students reported high levels of agreement with statements such as “The instructors at camp were good teachers,” and “The instructors at camp helped me when I had questions or needed help with what we were learning.” This finding is also supported by comments made during the student focus groups:
I had a problem with the app I was making. They've been helping me with it. They could just say no, but they come help me.
I like them because when they come around they help you and tell you what you need to do.
And when we do want help, they'll help you. It's, gonna be helpful and not like you can't get it done.
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Some campers were frustrated with the lack of differentiation at camp.
Camps are structured to incorporate all levels of expertise with technology and computer science. For example, a camper well-versed and experienced in robotics may work alongside a camper who has never touched a robot before. At times, this distinction was frustrating. Observations indicated that some students felt that the pace was too fast, while others felt hindered and bored as they waited for classmates to catch up. Focus group responses also highlight these findings.
Some of the newer people were taking longer. So the people who had finished would just be sitting there, looking at other people's and trying to help people. Some of them already had help or something, and then they were getting bored.
With that, if you tried to help somebody but then you want to get it done so then you can move on to the next step, so then basically you're just doing it for them and they're not learning it. We're just doing it so we can just move on to the next step and it's not as fun. It's not fun for them either.
I feel for us it's not really fair because we're a lot older and we have to wait for them. For me, it's a waste of time because I'm sitting there, I'm doing my own thing. I'm like, "Yay! I'm finished. Let's go to the next step." I'm all enthusiastic. Then I'm waiting for the person next to me, and she's still getting her kit out. I have to rearrange.
Some of the age groups are really differentiated. You have people that have been doing this for a few years. You have people that this is their first year. Based on that, we're having a little trouble. Some of us can get done a lot quicker, but we have to stay at the speed of the person who's going.
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Some campers felt that more resources were needed for effective learning.
While campers were overall positive about Techie Camp, in focus groups some campers expressed frustration with a lack of resources for various lessons.
Our kits were opened. I tried to build the color sorter, and I was real excited because it looked so cool. But I was missing so many pieces that I had to make accommodations to put it together. When I was further in the building process, I had to put some other things in and they wouldn't fit because I didn't have the right pieces earlier.
Well it's harder for me to program if I don't have a robot. Like we have to wait for the robot and then you start walking around and you're bored until you get a robot and you can test it out.
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Campers reported high interest in computer science.
In their end-of-camp questionnaires, campers indicated high levels of interest in computer science. Most campers agreed with items such as “It’s fun to think of problems that can be solved with computers,” and “I get excited when I learn new things about computers.” Since the questionnaire was only administered after camp, it’s difficult to know how much campers’ interest in computer science changed from before camp to after camp. These findings indicate, however, that campers had generally high interest in computer science after participating in their Techie Camp experience. Boys indicated higher interest in computer science than girls, and Black campers and those who reported “Mixed” or “Other” race/ethnicity had lower ratings of interest in computer science than White, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska Native/Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-identified students. Elementary campers reported higher interest in computer science than middle school campers. Because campers participated in the questionnaire only after camp, we cannot tell whether these gender, race, and age differences existed prior to camp as well.
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Campers were very confident in their ability to do computer science.
In the end-of-camp questionnaires, campers’ ratings of confidence in their ability to do computer science were also high. In App Development camps, elementary campers reported higher confidence than middle school campers. In Programming camps, girls, Black campers, and campers who reported “Other” as their race/ethnicity reported lower confidence than did boys and White campers. Because campers participated in the questionnaire only after camp, we cannot tell whether these gender, race, and age differences existed prior to camp as well.
Findings across camp indicate high interest and confidence in computer science, as well as instructor satisfaction. TECH CORPS has learned where some differences lie to better target and facilitate camp sessions in the future.
The Instructor Experience
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Instructors felt that the best part of their experience was getting a chance to see kids learn.
When instructors were asked during interviews what they enjoyed most about Techie Camp, most reported that loved seeing campers grow and learn.
There's a seven-year old in the class, he's the youngest, and he really struggled on Monday. I don't know what happened yesterday, but he just suddenly got it and was helping the fifth and sixth graders. I just let him go, he was doing such a good job.
Just to watch them learn and grow. It's crazy because it's only a week, but to watching them come in and scratch their heads, what in the world is Scratch, and then to have them at the end of week presenting in front of their families is so rewarding.
Just seeing the kids grow on a topic. Some might not be very fluent in it, or be timid about it, and then by the end of the week, they actually are having fun and being excited about what we're working on.
I've noticed a large level of how well they understand it, but I think in the end they all grasp the concepts to a certain degree.
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Instructors report that being able to work well with youth is critical for success.
Instructors indicated that one of the most important qualities for a successful Techie Camp instructor is being able to build rapport with and relate to campers. Several instructors also reported the importance of patience and flexibility with unpredictable technology. Quotes below highlight their experience.
I guess [what makes a good camp instructor is] being able to relate to the students, being able to communicate, knowing exactly what's happening, and being there for the students.
So you have to be able to do both [work with kids and know technology], and if you have someone who's really good with technology, they don't really know how to handle the kids. Because the curriculum, anyone can learn in a few sittings.
Just dealing with kids, I think dealing with kids is more of a skill that's optimal for the camp. If you can get someone who has content knowledge and someone who is good with kids, that's good, but if you had to pick one, I would pick someone who's good with kids.
The qualities of a good Techie Camp instructor are patience, that's probably the most important one, then the second one would be adaptability, and the third one is being prepared.
Be flexible, because schedules have to change sometimes or the equipment doesn't work. If it's possible, have an alternative ready because often times the volunteers... I guess them coming from the business world where they have updated equipment or they are the IT in the department, maybe they are maybe they aren't, but having an alternative plan ready just in case things don't go as planned.
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Instructors found meeting the needs of all campers (with varying skill and ability levels) challenging.
Campers’ frustration with lack of instructional differentiation was echoed by instructors. During focus groups, some instructors admitted that they struggled with being able to help less-experienced campers thoroughly while not holding back more-experienced campers.
I know some of them get bored when we're going through lessons and they get it done quick, and then they're waiting for everyone to catch up. I haven't found a way to really put that to bed yet. So I know some are bored occasionally.
And so as an instructor you want to help the kids who need help, but at the same time, the other kids are getting bored, so really, it's hard to balance because the different experiences of kids.
It's hard when you have kids at different skill levels, because you don't want to hold the super stars back, but you don't want to leave the kids that are struggling behind.
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Instructors often felt that camps need better equipment to support the curriculum.
During interviews, some instructors reported that equipment and resources weren’t fully sufficient for the needs of the camp experience. The quotes below describe some of these issues.
The equipment was all donated equipment that was from many moons ago. This poor equipment was just not ready to go.
Because it was Android, it was hard to get it to work on everybody's computer with all the devices that we had. Ideally, we would have laptops that we know work with the phones, have a phone for every child, and they would work.
If we're doing app development we need to make sure the resources are really good and high quality. They have to work well together.
Storytelling Alice, it's not compatible with Macs, I didn't realize it until that day, because I had played around it on my Windows computer and all the other Camp software was on there.
Several of the kits had no wheels. Several of the kits had five wheels. Some of the kits had eight color sensors and some had zero color sensors. So this morning was a headache because I was like, "Oh, I'm going to take these away from your kit and give them to this kit."
The kits were missing pieces, some people had extra pieces, and it was really hard trying to sort them out, making sure that everyone had the pieces they needed.
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Some Instructors felt that they needed more professional development.
Some instructors indicated that they would have preferred more substantial professional development, particularly in terms of computer science and technology content.
I would've hoped for a larger focus on the material in relation to the camp. We did mock classes, and we were told to make sure to know the lesson before the day.
I think it lacked depth, in terms of the curriculum. Now some people might have been teaching robotics camps, so going in depth into robotics might not have been necessary, but I think we really should have more content at the orientation, we just spend an hour on each kind of camp subject, or a half hour, just to really digging into it, so people understand how it works and stuff.
