Minds in Motion
Summer Camps and more
BUILD, INVENT, EXPERIMENT!
Come put your mind in motion! Have fun this year in Minds in Motion programs that are designed to foster an excitement about the fascinating worlds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Minds in Motion offers clubs, camps, workshops, outreach and professional development programs year-round.
These programs are being offered at the University of Calgary by Active Living and The Schulich School of Engineering. To find out more about our programs and book our outreach programs, please email workshops@mindsucalgary.ca.
Please note that the activities listed are subject to change and are presented as examples only.
Minds in Motion is a Network Member of Actua. Actua provides training, resources and support to its national network of members located at universities and colleges across Canada in the delivery of STEM education outreach programming. Each year, these members engage over 225,000 youth in 500 communities nationwide. Visit Actua at actua.ca to learn more.
Early Minds A, B and C (Grades 1-2)
Start discovering science in everything around you! Dissect owl pellets, build simple machines, travel back in time to uncover the mystery of fossils, have fun learning about chemical reactions and program robots with colours. Campers will explore and investigate the exciting world of STEM through games, stories, experiments and activities. Get on your lab coats and get ready for some fun!
*Please note: Early Minds A, B and C are all the same type of camp with similar projects and themes.
Energy Engineering (Grades 3-9)
How do we power a city’s homes and vehicles sustainably? This fun-filled week will have you investigating how scientists and engineers are creating technology to harness different forms of energy such as hydro, wind, thermal, chemical, and solar power. Explore the evolution of energy technology as we move to a more sustainable future. Campers will use this knowledge to design and build their own energy-efficient city through hands-on activities and innovative challenges. Discover how robotics plays a role in our energy-efficient future by designing and programming your own LEGO SPIKE® robot. Come get excited about engineering as a future career as you get those circuits firing while designing, building, and powering a metropolis!
LEGO® SPIKE® are registered trademarks which do not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this program.
Engineering 101 (Grades 3-9)
Wonder about what it’s like to be an engineer? Come join Engineering 101 and be an engineer for a week! Spend a week learning about the exciting opportunities in engineering and experiencing what engineers do at the University of Calgary and beyond. This camp will explore many fascinating topics including the engineering design process, forming innovative solutions to real world problems and experimentation with emerging technologies including 3D printing. From concept generation to prototype development, campers will use creativity in exploring and solving problems that can make a difference in the world. Experience the process of designing and programming your own robot with LEGO® SPIKE® robotics! Come join us and get excited about engineering as a future career as you get out your thinking caps and become scientific minds in engineering!
LEGO® SPIKE® are registered trademarks which do not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this program.
Girls Applied Science and Engineering (Grades 3-9)
Calling all girls! Come put your scientific mind in motion! From the elements below us to the world above, this all-girls camp delves deep into the exciting fields of STEM. Get a chance to combine your creativity with technical skills in this jam-packed week of investigating scientific concepts and applying the engineering design process through exciting hands-on activities and challenges. Campers will have the opportunity to perform a dissection, have fun learning about chemical reactions, have an introduction to coding through LEGO® SPIKE® robotics and much more! Come get excited about engineering as a future career as you get on your lab coats and get ready for some fun! Any and all female-identifying campers are encouraged and welcome to join.
LEGO® SPIKE® are registered trademarks which do not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this program.
**Please note that activities are subject to change and are presented as examples only. Grade refers to the grade your child is entering in the fall.
Technology (Grades 3-9)
Just can't get enough tech, looking to explore emerging technologies? Spend a week learning about software and electrical engineering through inventive solutions and exploration of computer software programs, circuit designs, robotics, and Virtual reality and applying your knowledge to real-life scenarios. Improve your problem-solving skills in this super-fun environment full of hands-on activities and challenges like LEGO® SPIKE® robotics. Get ready to plug-in for a quest into the world of tech and gadgets that will leave you charged-up for more!
LEGO® SPIKE® are registered trademarks which do not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this program.
Natural Sciences (Grades 3-9)
Investigate the world around you through an exploration of the natural sciences. This fun-filled week will have you looking at the world in a whole new way through hands-on activities and group challenges to foster and enrich inquisitive minds. Learn about chemical reactions, perform a dissection, explore biology, chemistry, and physics by conducting exciting experiments, and discover more about the mysterious world around us. Get on your lab coats and get ready for some fun!
Engscape Room (Grades 5 – 9)
Has your child begun to outgrow puzzles and is ready to unlock the next level? Escape into an immersive adventure game camp full of puzzles, clues, riddles, and mysteries that will put problem-solving skills to the test. In this collaborative, strategy-based camp, campers will learn how to create and solve a series of puzzles to accomplish a specific goal in a limited amount of time. Throughout the week campers will face challenges, virtual escape rooms, and take a crack at engineering a real escape game. Join us at Engscape Room camp and discover your inner code breaker!
Coding Minds (Grades 3 – 9)
Is your child looking to optimize their performance in coding? Campers will have the opportunity to become innovative coders and explore the foundations of digital literacy, coding, and programming. They will learn to develop their understanding of logic, computational thinking, artificial intelligence, and universal coding languages. Campers will dive into programs like Scratch, developed by MIT Media Lab to code their own game, TinkerCAD to develop their understanding of 3D printing principles, Minecraft to enhance their problem-solving skills by creating their own automated farms and Redstone contraptions and much more. Join us this summer to help kick-start your programming career!
STEMagic Camp (Grades 3 - 6)
Ever wonder about the science behind magic tricks and common myths? This camp combines magic and myth busting into one week full of discovery and exploration of how and why things work the way they do. Little magicians will learn the secret tricks of real magicians as they make objects disappear, experiment with chemical reactions, make invisible ink, create optical illusions, and perform a magic show of their own design to their group of peers. Our scientific magicians will also become Mythbusters as they use science to confirm or dispel some of the most mind-bending science myths and urban legends. Is there a dark side of the moon? Does the toilet flush in a different direction in each hemisphere? Are elephants afraid of mice? If you drop your food is the 5 second rule real? Join us in our quest to determine myth or fact and the science behind magic! It’s STEMagic Camp!
Gaming Minds (Grade 5-9)
Love playing games? Curious about how to make your very own? Campers will unleash their creative side while designing and developing their own games this summer. Gaming minds will have you exploring game development both indoors and outdoors. Build and play your own board game, learn to storyboard, design characters, code your own game using game development platforms, create your own apps and get active outdoors building your own “Olympic” games. Budding gamers will bring their creativity to life by applying the design thinking process to prototype their designs. Join us this summer and turn your ideas into reality!
Coding Girls (Grades 3-9)
Calling all girls! Looking to optimize your coding knowledge? Join us for this amazing week of coding! Learn the basics of coding logic and digital literacy, explore how AI works, create your own 3d models, and build and design your own games! Campers will gain experience with a variety of programs like scratch and tinker CAD while expanding their knowledge of computer technology. They will also dive into Minecraft to enhance their problem-solving skills by building Redstone contraptions and creating exciting mods! Join us this summer and enter the world of computer programming! Any and all female-identifying campers are encouraged and welcome to join.
**Please note that activities are subject to change and are presented as examples only. Grade refers to the grade your child is entering in the fall.
Minds In Motion Clubs
Girls Applied Science and Engineering Club
Grades 2 - 4
Calling all psyched about science girls! Need something fantastic to do on your Saturdays from 9am - 12pm? This is the place for you! Learn about science, engineering, and technology in a super fun, all-girl, environment. Instructors will lead you through several exciting sessions of hands-on projects that will leave you craving more science! This club is a great way for your child to interact with other girls while meeting multiple curricular requirements in STEM for Grades 2 - 4. Get on your lab coats and get ready for some fun!
View offerings for Girls Applied Science and Engineering Club
Kids Applied Science and Engineering Club
Grades 3 - 5
Calling all psyched about science kids! Need something fantastic to do on your Saturdays from 1pm - 4pm? This is the place for you! Learn about science, engineering, and technology in a super fun, environment. Instructors will lead you through several exciting sessions of hands-on projects that will leave you craving more science! This club is a great way for your child to interact with other kids while meeting multiple curricular requirements in STEM for Grades 3 - 5. Get on your lab coats and get ready for some fun!
View offerings for Kids Applied Science and Engineering Club
Coding Minds Club
Grades 3 - 5
Is your child looking to optimize their performance in coding? Students will have the opportunity to become innovative coders and explore the foundations of digital literacy, coding and programming. They will learn to develop their understanding of logic, computational thinking, artificial intelligence and universal coding languages. Students will dive into programs like Scratch Jr. developed by MIT Media Lab to code their own game, TinkerCAD to develop their understanding of 3D printing principles and Minecraft to enhance their problem solving skills by creating their own automated landscape. Join us to help kick-start your programming career!
Coding Minds - Minecraft Club
Grades 4 - 6
Is your child looking to optimize their performance in coding? If you are new to Minecraft®, this club will be perfect to get you into this wonderful open world. Kids will have the opportunity to become innovative coders and explore the foundations of digital literacy, coding and programming. They will learn to develop their understanding of logic, computational thinking and universal coding languages in Minecraft®. We will focus on everything from modding the game to learning about redstone circuits and beyond. Join us to dive deeper into the world of Minecraft®!
Minecraft® is a registered trademark and does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this program.
Minds in Motion School/Organization Workshops
Minds in Motion Workshops
Is your school or organization looking for curricular connecting STEM workshops for your students? Minds in Motion is offering free-of-cost STEM workshops both virtually and in-person for kindergarten to grade 12 classrooms.
Discover Engineering Workshop
The Schulich School of Engineering has re-designed and adapted our outreach programs to mitigate the impact of social distancing on our connectivity. We are pleased to offer online class visits, this year covering four curriculum-related topics.
Minds in Motion Professional Development
STEM Unplugged - December 3, 2020 and March 25, 2021
Let us show you how to make STEM fun and engaging without the use of technology! In our STEM Unplugged professional development session we give teachers and pre-service teachers insight as to how they can integrate unplugged activities into their classrooms. Give your students the building blocks to coding, robotics, and programming without the use of technology!
Design Thinking - January 28, 2021
Innovation meets design thinking to solve some of the classrooms greatest problems! This Design thinking professional development workshop will help teachers and pre-service teachers create a new mindset towards problem solving. We will offer interactive activities to help stimulate the idea of design thinking in your classroom using technology for any curriculum.
Digital Literacy in the Classroom - February 25, 2021
Teach your students to become thoughtful consumers and producers of technology and why it is important to be digitally literate! Digital literacy spans far further than coding and programming concepts. This workshop will help teachers and pre-service teachers understand the importance of digital literacy and provide the tools to help students become thoughtful users of technology.
AI in the Classroom – May 25, 2021
Innovation in the world of artificial intelligence is growing rapidly everyday but how does it fit into the classroom? Our AI in the classroom professional development online session will provide teachers with real world examples of how AI is impacting their students lives everyday. During this workshop, educators will have the chance to see many innovations of AI and how to integrate it into your classroom curriculum. Join us online to dive into the world of AI!