To make the Science Camp report more comprehensive, I will be writing three blog posts for this project. First, which will be the main content of this blog, the Pre-Science camp activities, second, the actual implementation of the Science camp and lastly, the evaluation of the activity.
Pre-Science Camp Activities
Conducting pre-science camp activities is very necessary. This will be away of leveling off with the key persons involved in the Science camp and will be a way of making instructions clear to the students involved. Last August 29, 2012 an orientation was given to the leaders and advisers of each subcamps. Among the things discussed during the orientation were the overview of the activity, the program, the tasks and challenges during the tasks, responsibilities of the subcamp leaders and advisers, camp rules and guidelines mechanics of the activities and an open forum was also done.
A week after, a school-wide Science Camp orientation was conducted to acquaint the student body of the rules and regulations of the camp.
The students were excited about the camp as the rules and activities were given to them. I and the officers of the Math-Sci club spearheaded the orientation program.
Science Camp 2012 Overview
The Math-Sci Club is honored to sponsor
the Science Camp 2012 on September
20-21, 2012 with the theme “Green
Science in Action.” The Math-Sci club chose the theme because of the
increasing popularity of the green sciences in our society today especially in
dealing with environmental issues, sustainability and climate change.
The Science Camp will be a two day overnight camp, which will be
held in the PSHS-SMC to give students ample time to assimilate essential inputs
and skills that they will acquire from the prepared activities.
This year’s science camp has the following
objectives:
1.
A
Green Science Seminar-Workshop shall
have been conducted to allow students to have a hands-on, minds-on and
interactive avenue where they can understand the foundations of the green
sciences.
2.
Fun-filled,
engaging and interactive activities shall have been participated in by students
during the Think Green Challenge, Sci
Musical, Kusina Master Search, and The Amazing Green Race.
3.
Instill
in students a scientific mind, excellence, teamwork, friendship, creativity,
camaraderie, cooperation, leadership, innovativeness and enthusiasm through
their involvement in the various activities in the science camp.
The following innovations are proposed to be
incorporated in the Science Camp for this year:
1.
Green Science
Seminar Workshop will
be conducted by the Math-Sci Club to enrich students’ appreciation of the role
of the green sciences in building our nation.
2.
Think Green
Challenge
will be done to break each sub-camp into groups and ask them to carry out
various tasks and mini research projects (using the MyCOE platform) to enrich their appreciation and
understanding of the projects that they make in relation to its impacts to various communities in the country.
3.
Green Gallery will be a
showcase of the students’ outputs from the Think Green Challenge.
4.
Jazz up your
Shirt Contest
will be Math-Sci’s way of dealing with the students’ clamor to have a subcamp shirt, but in a fun, creative and inexpensive way. This will be done on
September 7, 2012.
Roles and Responsibilities of the People Involved
Math-Sci
Adviser
1.
Shall oversee all the activities and
concerns in the Science camp.
2.
Shall make sure that all the activities
in the Science Camp are systematically done.
3.
Shall ensure that all preparations are
made before the Science camp is conducted.
4.
Shall prepare the proposal for the
Science camp and present it to the MANCOM.
5.
Shall coordinate with the subcamp
advisers for concerns and questions.
Math-Sci
President
1.
Shall serve as the student counterpart
of the Math-Sci Adviser.
2.
Shall coordinate with all the Committee
Heads regarding the preparations and flow of activities for the science camp.
3.
Shall coordinate with subcamp leaders
regarding their preparations for the Science Camp
4.
Shall ensure that all materials and
activities are prepared before the Science camp.
Subcamp
Adviser
1.
The subcamp adviser shall supervise the
preparations of each subcamp for all the activities in the Science camp.
2.
The advisers shall coordinate with the
Sci camp Director regarding the preparations and the needed follow-ups for the
activities of the subcamps in the Science camp.
3.
The subcamp advisers shall also sleep
with their subcamps during the overnight activity.
4.
Shall serve as guide, consultant and co-research adviser of the students in
the writing, preparation and conduct of the research projects in the Think
Green Challenge.
Subcamp
Leader
1.
The subcamp leader shall lead in the
planning, coordination and implementation of tasks given by the Math-Sci club
to each subcamp.
2.
The subcamp leader shall ensure that all
members of the subcamp are given enough tasks for them to participate in all
the activities of the science camp.
3.
He/She shall coordinate with the Math-Sci
President for other needed preparations and follow-ups for the respective
subcamps.
The program of activities, guidelines per activities, and the camp guidelines were also discussed.
To culminate the orientation program, students were asked to recite the Sci-camper's oath to give them the ownership of their actions and be responsible for whatever things that they do.
As a whole, the pre-sci camp orientation was a success and it served as an important part of the implementation of the Science camp. IF other sites from the US or abroad would like to replicate a similar activity like the Science camp, then I would highly recommend that a pre-camp orientation be done too!
I think, I will end with this for now, in my next blog post, I will be presenting how things went during the actual implementation of the two day Science camp. So, hang on! We'd love to hear your comments about this pre-science camp orientation, too! Just leave your comments in the comment box!
All the best,
Michael A. Casas :)
