Distance Learning Opportunities Summer 2020

Ellis Crasnow, PhD, Help Group Director, Stem³ Academy and Stem Education

With three months of distance learning behind them, teachers at The Help Group have been refining their methods and procedures to engage students more deeply and support their learning more effectively. One thing that has emerged is that students highly value real time video interactions, whether direct live instruction from the teacher, interactions and collaborations with their peers, or in making or participating in presentations and discussions. The Help Group summer camps and summer school will have a much greater live video component as a result of this student need for greater live interaction.

Summer school for all Help Group schools is July 6 through July 31, and is an opportunity for students to catch up on assignments left over from the regular school year. It’s also an opportunity to improve a skill or a grade or improve understanding of particular concepts. Consequently, all of our schools offer remediation classes in English and math, as well as any other subject where the student has fallen behind. Classes provide instruction, often individual, as well as tutorial support and practice opportunities to show mastery.

STEM³ Academy’s summer school will offer workshops in English Language Arts, to improve critical thinking, literary analysis, oral presentations, and writing for a variety of purposes. In math, students work to improve facility with solving word problems, as well as understand grade level specific topics in algebra and geometry. Social skills development, executive functioning, and social emotional development are addressed in specific dedicated classes, as well as embedded into content classes.

Summer school offers opportunities for enrichment too. Among the offerings are arts and crafts, fun and fitness, and STEM enrichment classes such as coding with Minecraft, and Anatomy & Physiology. For some of these STEM classes, we will be sending a packet to each student with resources and materials they’ll need for completion of projects.

STEM³ Academy also offered a two-week camp from June 22 through July 3: STEM! Art! Design! Activities included Rube Goldberg machines, designing and making your own lava lamp, making hydraulic powered bots, making racers and more. The camp was conducted virtually over Zoom.

There is much more that we are offering in our camps and summer school, and I urge you to be in touch. For all of The Help Group camps, contact Nicole Webb at nwebb@thehelpgroup.org. For more information on our STEM camp, contact Dr. Ellis Crasnow at ecrasnow@stem3academy.org. For STEM summer school information, contact Tamika DeCambra at tdecambra@stem3academy.org

.