Introducing Camp Stories at Mezzacello
What do you think is happening in this photo?
I always see these stories as belonging to those kids and their families. Well, we need a loan to finish building Mezzacello’s new 21st Century classroom space and the loan officer insisted that i start collecting the stories of my programming here at Mezzacello. So, welcome to camp stories at Mezzacello.
What Is Happening In That Photo?
So, What is happening in this photo? There are members from three teams at a Mission to Mars Summer Camp at Mezzacello working at a custom-designed mobile data lab. They are using the three computer workstations and working on three different projects:
One is researching manned missions in low earth orbit
One is designing a new solar array in Minecraft
The others are editing a youtube video they are producing for presentation on Friday
“Old Keys do not open new doors. Innovation on a farm starts with asking new questions and applying nature’s resources to create the change they want to see in the world.”
Ag, Applied STEM, and Anthropology
As an armchair anthropologist I know the power of stories, and I am very cautious with stories. I have hundreds of great stories from my programming here at Mezzacello Urban Farm. Five years of top-notch, engaging, hands-on, applied STEM ag camps and hundreds of kids playing, learning, and solving problems on the farm.
The key to the success at Mezzacello Urban Farm is four-fold;
Applying Design Thinking and anthropology to explore the motivations and impacts of learning and failing
Creating a culture of hands-on experiences that empower learners to succeed and fail safely, and to ask new questions
Allowing learners access to technology, knowledge, and tools to reframe solutions that occur to them as they play and experiment
Trust the kids to solve that problem - especially if it is important to them - this is how we grow skills and build confidence
The fact that these kids are on a farm smack-dab in the middle of Columbus OH is beside the point! It’s the fact that all parts of this functional farm has a logic to it that will make sense once the kids have mastered the basic STEM. Then I give them a clipboard, a pen and a whiteboard tarp with a dry-erase marker that they can draw on. This is the introduction to the reframe session.
Students working to understand the needs of rabbits and how to design an effective mobile cage by drawing it on a “whiteboard” tarp.
REFRAME the Problem
Why do I use the term “reframe” here? Because by taking a problem apart and looking at it we see new connections. Then we add new technology and cross-pollinate new ideas and ask the campers to integrate them into new ideas, mad-lib style on that whiteboard.
Then we form teams. Why teams? Because (Anthropology 101) humans are social creatures and seek validation and comfort with other humans.
Humans are also competitive, and they like having a challenge. Teams allow them to work together to solve complex problems and find fun and unique solutions. Teams naturally influence each other — we know this is true.
The art in teaching effective teams is acknowledging that working in teams is scary while also teaching that teams are also valuable and comforting. It is important to work on a team. By encouraging this culture of cooperative questing we find that the teams themselves often influence the outcomes of the other teams!
Human Skills and STEM Skills
“These kids get to learn together AND learn to trust themselves and each other through their shared concern for the animals, plants, and technology at the farm. They get to be authentic heroes and make the world a better place.”
This capacity for kids to see and apply the value of teamwork is key to the success of all of our summer camp and workshop programming. We know that there is a deep need for kids to have face to face interactions with each other, and they need to be able to work in teams. That kind of interactions works organically in the camp structures at Mezzacello.
Nothing on a farm is easy to do by oneself. Trust me, I know this to be true having built Mezzacello Urban Farm by hand myself! These kids get to learn together AND learn to trust themselves and each other through their shared concern for the animals, plants, and technology at the farm. They get to be authentic heroes and make the world a better place.
Grow, Maintain, Sustain, Explain
This is what I am most proud of about my work here at Mezzacello. We create fun, magic, and learning in a way that is easy and challenging to kids and adults alike. The true test of my mission here (Grow, Maintain, Sustain, Explain) is the pride I feel watching these learners present their solution to a live audience and then following them around casually as they explain all the STEM concepts to their flabbergasted parents. That’s ALWAYS the best camp story.
