Think back to your school days. What do you remember most?
Chances are, you spent countless hours memorizing facts, dates, definitions, and formulas—but how much of that information do you actually remember today? Now think about the skills you’ve learned along the way, like riding a bike, building something from scratch, or growing a garden. Once you’ve learned them through hands-on experience, those skills tend to stick! That’s because there’s a big difference between simply memorizing information and truly understanding how things work.
At STEM Camp, we believe children learn best when they’re encouraged to ask questions, explore new ideas, experiment, and discover answers for themselves. By turning curiosity into hands-on adventures, we help campers build confidence, develop critical thinking skills, and discover the excitement of learning something new. And when children are having so much fun they don’t even realize they’re learning, that’s when the real magic happens!
It’s all part of an exciting educational approach called inquiry-based learning—and it’s at the heart of everything we do!
Let’s explore how it works.
In traditional school settings, students are often given the roadmap to an exact outcome or solution. That is to say, you are given a problem and the steps to solve it.
Inquiry-based learning differs in that learners are given a problem and a goal, but not a step-by-step plan on how to get there. Instead, students are equipped with tools, resources and knowledge that they can use (as well as some helping hands nearby, in case they get stuck!).
As an example, imagine that your goal is to build a solar-powered vehicle.
The inquiry-based learning approach would mean that you aren’t told what type of vehicle, how it should move, the way it should be built, what the light source should be etc.
As the example above illustrates, inquiry-based learning puts campers at the helm of their own learning experience.
At STEM Camp, this approach encourages them to build their knowledge based on how they experience and interact with the world around them.
Here is an in-depth explanation of how inquiry-based learning works, in 6 fundamental steps:
We start with posing questions that stimulate curiosity and inquiry. How could it work? What else could it do? What do we know that could help? Asking great questions is often the first step to finding awesome answers, but most importantly, to get us excited about learning more.
Through hands-on activities, research, and exploration, our campers investigate and gather information related to the questions posed. This may include conducting experiments, gathering data, analysing sources, or engaging in other forms of inquiry to explore the topic.
Campers are encouraged to work together, share ideas, discuss findings, and collaborate on projects. By working together, kids further develop their critical thinking, communication skills, and the ability to consider many perspectives at once.
As they work together, campers are encouraged to reflect on their findings, experiences, and the learning process itself, too. Reflection helps them make connections, draw conclusions, and deepens their understanding of the subject matter. It also encourages metacognitive skills, as campers become more aware of their thinking processes.
Campers are not passive recipients of information, but active participants in constructing meaning and understanding. They actively build their knowledge by drawing upon their prior knowledge, making connections, and critically analysing information.
Our camp counsellors are facilitators and guides. They support campers by posing thought-provoking questions, providing resources and guidance, and facilitating discussions and reflections. They encourage autonomy and critical thinking skills.
What happens when a camper tries something new and it doesn’t quite work out as planned?
At STEM Camp, we believe failure is awesome!
A tower falls over? A robot takes a wrong turn? An experiment doesn’t go as expected? That’s fantastic! Every unexpected result is an opportunity to ask questions, rethink an approach, and discover something new.
We encourage campers to embrace mistakes, try different solutions, and never be afraid to think outside the box. When children realize that getting something wrong is simply part of the learning process, they’re more willing to take creative risks, collaborate with others, and tackle challenges with confidence.
After all, some of the greatest discoveries begin with something that didn’t work the first time!
By turning setbacks into opportunities for growth, STEM Camp helps children develop resilience, perseverance, and confidence—valuable life skills that extend far beyond the classroom.
And isn’t that exactly what we want for our kids?
While each approach to learning (traditional education and inquiry-based learning) has its place and time, at STEM Camp, we believe that supporting the development of skills, like critical thinking, problem-solving, curiosity, and creativity, is key to helping kids grasp a deeper understanding of subjects and develop a life-long passion for learning.
When inquiry-based learning is put into practice, kids create things you never imagined they would.
These kids then have an opportunity to turn into adults who don’t feel as though they need to do things in a particular way, simply because that’s the way they were always done.
In short, kids develop a mindset for innovation, which is a way of thinking that will serve them for a lifetime.
