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Health & Fitness

Innovative Summer Camp Program Carrying STEAM Into Region

The Da Vinci Science Center (DSC) and The Baum School of Art in Allentown, Pa., are bringing Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) education to life this summer with an innovative and collaborative summer camp program.

The Dexter Baker Picking Up STEAM Camp opened its first week-long session Monday with nearly twenty students ages 10-13 The session continues through Friday and will be repeated next week.

The camp program highlights the connections between science and the arts with days packed with hands-on activities, creativity, and discovery. Students are spending their mornings at the Baum School and afternoons at the Da Vinci Science Center working on creative projects. Activities include explorations into a variety of art forms, using glass to display a rainbow and illustrate artistic pointillism, creating a record player with household items, creating their own egg tempera paint, and making watershed models.

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The Dexter Baker Picking Up STEAM Camp – named for late Air Products CEO Dexter F. Baker – is underwritten by community leaders Bob and Sandy Lovett of Allentown, Pa. Dexter Baker was a passionate supporter of artistic and educational organizations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, and Florida – including the Da Vinci Science Center and The Baum School of Art.

The program was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, who was known as one of history’s greatest artists and one of history’s greatest scientists. The Da Vinci Science Center and The Baum School of Art also are connected as the Center took its current form after a 2003 merger between the Discovery Center of Science and Technology and Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse, Inc. (LDVHI). A model of the horse that LDVHI placed in Milan, Italy, sits outside The Baum School of Art.

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The STEAM concept was originated by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, R.I., and has been adopted by numerous institutions, corporations and individuals. Its objectives include transforming research policy to place art and design at the center of what is known as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education; encouraging integration of art and design into all levels of education; and influencing employers to hire artists and designers to drive innovation.

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