Students and teachers at the Inclusive Community Camp Camp pose for a photo while wearing a type of 3D glasses

Every summer since 2020, the Inclusive Community Camp in the MSU College of Education, Health and Human Development has brought together students with a range of disabilities or educational needs and teachers in training to provide a STEAM (STEM + the Arts) learning experience. Each student teacher is matched with a single student for the weeklong camp, allowing for personalized instruction. This also allows the camp to support students with a variety of additional support needs.

The theme of ICC 2024 was QuantumQuest, and the camp was supported by MSU’s Applied Quantum CORE (QCORE). Over the week, the curriculum moved from macro science down to micro, then nano and finally quantum. ICC campers also got to meet the scientists: graduate students from MSU’s Optics and Photonics Society walked the kids through interactive exercises explaining how light works, and the ICC students took a field trip to “NanoLand” with MONT, the Montana Nanotechnology Facility.

The camp’s personalized approach allows kids to have a conversation with their teacher about quantum's more difficult concepts. Leadership was also an important part of the camp, with older students learning to teach and guide their younger counterparts.

For more information on Inclusive Community Camp, check out the camp’s main page as well as this longer article about the 2023 camp, where its STEAM components were supported by Montana NSF EPSCoR and featured activities related to sensors.