The summer provides a unique opportunity for children to further their interests in science, especially science in the out-of-doors. Once school is out for the summer, there is seemingly unlimited time, with no strict curriculum guidelines to follow. For students with a passion for the out-of-doors, summer science camps and school-based summer…

Geospatial and Robotics Technologies for the 21st Century (GEAR-Tech-21), teaches science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through robotics, global positioning systems (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS) activities for youth in grades 5-8. Participants use a robotics kit, handheld GPS devices, and GIS technology to…

The HighScope Summer Camp for Teenagers founded by David P. Weikart in 1963, and operated until 2002, was an international, inclusive gifted education program that aided many young people, including those from disadvantaged social strata, in their personal development and shaped them in a special way. The six-week program stood for a high degree…

Construction of developmentally appropriate tools for assessing the environmental attitudes and awareness of young learners has proven to be challenging. Art-based assessments that encourage creativity and accommodate different modes of expression may be a particularly useful complement to conventional tools (e.g. surveys), but their efficacy and…

Background: The differential susceptibility hypothesis states that some genetic variants that confer risk in adverse environments are beneficial in normal or nurturing environments. The cholinergic system is promising as a source of susceptibility genes because of its involvement in learning and neural plasticity. The cholinergic receptor gene…

In order to foster effective transitions to adulthood, it is necessary for youths with chronic healthcare conditions to have access to training and support. When the condition is one that is rare and potentially stigmatizing such as incontinence, these opportunities can be difficult to find locally. Camps and special weekends have been used to…

How do young people experience camp, and how might that experience help us expand our understanding of what is possible in non-formal learning environments? In-depth interviews consisting of forced-choice and open-ended questions were conducted with 59 Concordia Language Villages residential camp participants who partake in a linguistically and…

In this exploratory case study, I investigated the ways that youth engaged in negotiating their identity during learning conversations at an informal science education camp. In particular, I was interested in exploring the ways that youth positioned themselves within their learning group and how this influenced their identities as learners of…

As much as play is researched and discussed by people interested in children and childhood, studies often fail to examine closely the ways that kids accomplish their play. This study sought to answer the question of how children sustain their play interactions. By making use of qualitative methods to collect and analyze data, the play of…

For difficult or challenging children and teenagers in therapeutic or school settings, creative activities can be an excellent way of increasing enjoyment and boosting motivation, making the sessions more rewarding and successful for everyone involved. This resource provides over one hundred tried-and-tested fun and imaginative therapeutic…

Summer camps provide opportunities for children to experience play, pleasurable activities, and social interaction with other children of similar ages and interests and are an integral part of the modern-day American cultural landscape. The authors discuss the emergence of summer camps for children with special needs, the types of play activities…

As summer comes to close, students are already buzzing about what they plan to do for summer. Many student are likely to choose (along with the help of their parents) summer camp. There may be a few students and families, however, that are "on the fence" about what summer camp to choose. This article offers some advice to help parents sort through…

This study examined whether emotions and coping explain (mediate) the association between mother-child attachment and peer relationships. Attachment, positive and negative emotion experience, coping, and peer relationships were examined in 106 fourth-grade through sixth-grade girls attending a 6-day residential camp. Attachment, experience of…

Imagine a magical treehouse hidden in the woods, with secret doors and rope swings--the stuff of one's wildest dreams! Imagine children rolling their wheelchairs all the way around a lake and arriving at this wondrous place. At Camp Twin Lakes (CTL), a not-for-profit organization in Georgia, one doesn't have to imagine--it's the real thing. Each…

Endangered Indigenous languages have received little attention within the American educational research community. However, within Native American communities, language revitalization is pushing education beyond former iterations of culturally relevant curriculum and has the potential to radically alter how we understand culture and language in…