Portsmouth kids explore world of possibilities with STEM summer camps

Critical thinking and problem-solving can be fun. That's the message those with Starbase Victory and Portsmouth Public Schools want to spread as kids tackle STEM-related challenges with help from a GoTec learning bus and some building materials.

Inside the GoTec bus this week kids were experimenting in a world of technology.

"We're building robots, we're manufacturing them and making sure they're adjustable for the terrain," explained student Malik Jones.

Next door in the Children's Museum kids discovered the ins and outs of our maritime community.

"We built a boat. We're going to add a motor on to it soon," said student Xavier Brown.

They used the projects to compete with other students on Friday.

But that's not the only reason for the builds. They're meant to keep kids engaged over the summer and teach them STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

"It's important for a variety of reasons. It helps them apply their math and science concepts they're learning somewhat siloed in schools," said Jacob Taylor, GoTec technical and training manager.

STEM covers soft-skills too, like team building and problem solving.

"First you have to think of what you want to build then you have to build it. If there's flaws you have to fix those," said student Hayden Burkhart.

"The things we had to problem solve was the grabber was coming off because of the small gear," added Jones.

"I hope their main takeaways will be if they run into barriers with their designs they were able to work through, think through some of those challenges and come up with solutions," said Taylor.

"I think it's better for kids to learn in a fun way because if they learn in some other ways some people get it and some people don't but if they learn in a fun way I think they'll be interested to do that [later on] in some way," said Jones.

Though STEM careers are growing, the National Science Foundation reports there are still gaps in representation for women and minorities. That's another reason why the teachers this week said they love to inspire learning and to see every kid getting excited about their builds.