THOUSANDS OF EXPERIENCES

By Brilliant Labs with contributions from Camp Mentors: Naya, Sadie, Nicholas, Judith | Camp Facilitaors /Organizers: Christine Long, Edmundston NB, Carron McCabe, PE, & John Barron, NL.

Following a school year like no other, where students were asked to learn online from home, Brilliant Labs’ summer STEAM camps have also gone virtual. In support of this effort, Brilliant Labs and the Saint John Human Development Council have partnered with the United Way Centraide to develop and deliver free, youth-focused, virtual STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) camps. These camps are resources available online, through Community Television, and offline to help address social isolation and remote learning for children throughout Atlantic Canada. Funding includes the COVID-19 Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF) administered by United Way Centraide agencies in Saint John and Moncton, NB, and St.John’s, NL on behalf of the Government of Canada. The purpose of the ECSF is to support charities and nonprofit organizations adapt and increase frontline services for vulnerable populations during COVID-19.

Virtual STEAM camps are being led by student Tech Mentors and Supervisors hired through Canada Summer Jobs and provincial student wage subsidy programs. Camps consist of seven, weekly themed camps and special interest courses. Each virtual camp week included daily online sessions in both official languages and were freely available to children for Grades 1 and up. The virtual camps opened July 6 ran until August 28th. Brilliant Labs also offered some physical camps with no more than 15 participants per pod. These outdoor STEAM camps were offered in St-John's Newfoundland & Labrador. Together, Brilliant Labs camps provided over 6,000 learning experiences this summer.

All camps offered daily read alouds for younger participants, hands-on activities tied to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for children from all walks of life to have fun

learning to be artists, engineers, inventors and scientists but also help them learn about how to make the world a better, more equitable and sustainable place to live. Online activities were supported through live sessions for those with internet access and kits containing the required materials which were sent out to participants free of charge. For those without internet access, prerecorded material is available daily through Community TV episodes on EastLink and Rogers. There was also a completely offline version of the camps made available through the direct delivery of camp kits to participants. These camps were made possible thanks to the generous support of the United Way Centraide and our partners. Brilliant Labs was able to offer our virtual, summer STEAM camps free to kids throughout the region. We offered weekly themed camps as well as special interest courses like a Founders’ Club if kids had inventions or entrepreneurial ideas they wanted to develop. They could also choose to learn how to create websites and make their own video games using Unity or Unreal Engine which is used to make games like Fortnite. We are also offered courses on Artificial Intelligence, how to make your own YouTube Channel, Cyber Security, Bio-Making, and

Engineering your own circuit boards. Our outdoor camps offered hands-on project opportunities that included Natural Makerspace concepts allowing participants to consider ways to solve problems using natural materials found all around them.”

These virtual and physical summer camps were made possible thanks to our community partners across the region and the generous supporters of our funders, such as the Ted Rogers Community Fund, Dr. Oetker Community Fund , Canaport LNG, Government of Canada, Government of New Brunswick, Government of Nova Scotia, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Government of Prince Edward Island,

United Way Centraide: Saint John, Kings and Charlotte; Greater Moncton and Southeastern New Brunswick; and Newfoundland and Labrador, on behalf of the Government of Canada through the COVID-19 Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF).”

Camps Virtuels au NouveauBrunswick, by Naya Goguen

Labos créatifs a réussi à offrir des camps d’été malgré des circonstances exceptionnellesc’est un succès! Au début de la quarantaine, nous n’étions pas certains que ce serait possible. Être confinés chez nous avait soulevé plusieurs questions, comment peut-on réussir à livrer des camps d’été sans être là en personne? Estce même possible d'offrir des camps d’été sur une plateforme virtuelle?

Très vite on s’est rendu compte que ne pas être capable de voir ou entendre nos étudiants rend les sessions difficiles . Certains jeunes comprennent à 100% les directives et ils réussissent à nous suivre sans difficultés. D’autres jeunes se

perdent après quelques étapes et sont confus pour le reste de la session. Sans l’avantage d’être là en personne, sans être capable de voir le langage non-verbal des élèves, c’est parfois difficile à déterminer qui est à quel niveau.

Pour surmonter ce défi, mes coéquipiers et moi avons vite réalisés qu’il est impératif de les encourager à interagir avec nous le plus que possible. Nos appels sont remplis avec beaucoup de

“Comment ça va?” et “Est-ce qu’on peut voir ce que vous avez créé?”.

Non seulement est-ce que cela aide les mentors à avoir une idée de leur niveau de compréhension et de savoir le progrès qu’ils font, mais c’est aussi avantageux pour les jeunes. Il existe mille et un différents projets et ressources en ligne, mais avec nos camps, les étudiants peuvent participer avec nous en temps réel et ils peuvent interagir avec nous et avec leur pairs. S’ils deviennent frustrés avec leur projet, mes coéquipiers et moi sont là pour leur assurer que c’est normal de ne pas y arriver sur le premier coup. On est là pour leur assister avec des trucs et des conseils ainsi que pour les féliciter sur leur bon progrès!

Parfois, je rentre dans la salle virtuelle pour voir que quelques étudiants ont joins l’appel en avance de la session et se parlaient entre eux. Ils parlent de ce qu’ils ont accomplis la session précédente et ils discutent de l’activité d’aujourd’hui, ils s’envoient des liens de projets Scratch, de Piskel,

Au courant de l’été j’ai eu la chance de rencontrer des jeunes de partout à travers les maritimes. Puisque les camps sont virtuel, des jeunes provenant de petits villages, qui n’auraient jamais eu la chance de participer au paravant, on pu se joindre à nous et exercer leur créativité.

Cette année fut remplie de changements, mais ces nouveautés ne sont pas toutes mauvaises. Les camps virtuels de Labos créatifs sont, jusqu’à date, un grand succès! Les mentors et les étudiants ont réussis à s’adapter sans trop de problèmes. Tous les obstacle étaient surmontés avec l’aide d’une équipe fantastique, toujours prêt à aider!

Edmundston, N-B, Camp robotique en personne, par Christine Long

Une belle semaine débutait avec 10 jeunes prêts à apprendre Lego Mindstorms EV3 et la programmation. Après quelques activités « brise-glace » avec Etienne le moniteur de camp et Kathleen la superviseure du camp, les jeunes ont débuté l’exploration du monde fascinant de Mindstorms. Ils ont créé un robot qu’ils devaient programmer à compléter un circuit d’obstacles imaginé par Etienne et Christine. Les jeunes ont réussi à compléter le circuit dans la même journée! Pendant cette semaine, ils ont eu l’opportunité d’explorer et de créer des projets avec Scratch et de reproduire le jeu « Dance Dance Revolution » avec un Makey Makey. Les jeunes essayaient continuellement de surpasser leur score.

Il y avait des jeunes qui n’avaient jamais utilisé cette technologie et en moins de quelques heures, ils étaient en mesure de réaliser ce qu’ils voulaient et parfois avec de l’entraide des amis. À la fin de la semaine, chaque participant voulait revenir pour une autre semaine!

Virtual Summer Camps in

Prince Edward Island, by Nicholas Lamacchia

This year has been a unique and unprecedented experience for us all. The challenges of delivering hands on and practical experiences to our campers has been something Brilliant Labs has tackled with efficiency and compassion. With the current situation of a global pandemic each camper is coming from a different situation in their home, as such, it is integral that we as mentors have a great deal of empathy and compassion for the students' positions. I have seen many of my peers come to camps ready to take on the project of the day to end up in intellectual conversations about how this topic is reflected in the world's current situation. It is with this empathy that we as mentors can teach students and still allow them to thrive in the learning environment we have created.

Many of the projects we have created this year are unique fun learning experiences that truly emphasize the idea of STEAM. Each lesson encompasses the idea of crosscurricular learning as well as incorporates real world problems and solutions. One particular project that has been a shining example of STEAM 44 Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs and project based learning was the creation of a two part water filtration system. Students created both a particulate filter as well as a solar oven out of recycled household materials and those found in their neighbourhood. Students and mentors alike loved this project as it was a fun and exciting way to create a solution to solve some issues we face in our world today. Of course a cardboard box solar oven is not going to solve the world's fresh water problem however the science and engineering experienced will propel them to think about these problems and be pioneers in the science world. The use of these critical thinking and problem solving skills students learn in these camps will propel students forward.

This year has been a challenging experience for mentors and students alike at BL however I am nothing but impressed with the call to action and the effectiveness of each mentor on the team. Things look a lot different this year, but many of our mentors have seen this as an opportunity rather than a hindrance and have improved their skills and adapted their content delivery in so many unique and interesting ways. Overall I have nothing but positive responses to my peers and their amazing abilities they have used to instil quality education this summer.

Charlottetown Outdoor InPerson Camps, by Carron McCabe

This summer was full of virtual camp experiences for Island youth. Not only were our Summer STEAM Mentors having fun online

BioMaking virtual summer camp participant designing project & bioplastic mixture. Submitted/Twitter

with campers, they also got to meet some awesome kids at two different events through The Adventure Group. The Adventure Group, Inc. is a registered charitable, non-profit, experiential educational and training organization incorporated in 1992 to address the needs of young people and their parents. The goal of the Adventure Group is to offer opportunities for learning as well as personal and skill development using experiential, service learning and adventure based curriculum.

Youth designed rockets and launched them, learned about chemical reactions, propulsion, aerospace and design thinking. At times it got a little messy for everyone in the splash zone! Sometimes the rockets took their time before their blast off - the suspense was exciting!

We are all looking forward to more in person rocket fun next summer!

Virtual Summer Camps in Newfoundland & Labrador, by Sadie Hutchings

When the chance to return to Brilliant Labs as a summer tech mentor came around, I did not hesitate for a second. Having previously been a part of the afterschool program as a STEAM mentor I was excited to be back, even if it was during a global pandemic. This just meant that some aspects, such as teaching in person were no longer possible due to COVID-19 restrictions. While this presented obstacles for us, we were equipped for the task.

The first day back arrived and the planning, preparing, and getting reacquainted with the technology began immediately. Some things became obvious right away that they would need more planning than others. For instance, having to use the projectors on sight, with a virtual video call for the mentor teaching at the time. Simply packing up and going to the camp locations to teach in person was no longer an option. Making with a projector setup became the most interactive way to teach rather than pre-recorded videos, while still maintaining social distancing.

While all the planning was necessary, and things do work perfectly sometimes there will always be limitations and unforeseen problems. To begin with, you cannot plan for how the kids will react in the moment, and at times we found it hard to fully capture their attention being only online and not face to face. Despite also providing the supplies they needed to work with, follow along and create themselves, it was at times hard to bridge the divide. So, “I was excited to be back, even if it was during a global pandemic...while this presented obstacles for us, we were equipped for the task.

- Sandi Hutchings Summer Camp Mentor

to work around this we would change up the lessons more, adding more educational games, eye catching demonstrations to get the creative process going and sometimes changing up the leading instructors.

Overall, the summer shaped up great, because in my experience nothing is without bumps in the road but it’s about how you handle those bumps that determines where you go from there. In our case even the unsolvable ones were met with an optimistic approach, and working together easily resolved most without difficulties. It is this outlook on a situation that is often the difference between finding a solution or not, and at Brilliant Labs these skills and mindsets are encouraged and developed. Making Brilliant Labs a wonderful, positive,

and meaningful place of work I will always highly regard.

Virtual & In Person Hybrid Camps, by John Barron

Brilliant Labs was also able to offer some in person camp experiences working with student pods in municipal run camps in Newfoundland and Labrador. These hybrid camps blended virtual instruction with in person support, reached over 200 students per week.