People may think going to school isn’t the way students would choose to spend summer. The some 55 students at Charles Henderson Middle School this week would be to differ.

Charles Henderson Middle School held its Math and Science camp this week, using 21st Century classrooms to enrich its students.

Dot Green taught the students in this enrichment program, which lasted through the week.

“We have about 55 kids participating,” Green said.

“This time gives students the opportunity to do enrichment activities that time does not allow in the regular classroom.”

According to Green, much of the equipment used in the camp was part of the 21st Century Classroom initiative, which uses technology to provide innovative ways to learn in the classroom.

Some of the tools they used included smart boards, video cameras, laptops and the ELMO document camera, which projected documents onto the board for the entire class.

“We had a group build 3-D geometrical shapes,” Green said.

“We talked about the parts of the geometric shapes to help them prepare for spring testing.”

Another of their math projects included having a “Web Quest,” which involved students mapping out a trip to various places, like New York and California.

“The trip via “Web Quest” is like a scavenger hunt on the Internet, and the goal is to show what they learned,” said Becky Kirby, who teaches in the program.

They would start and end their trips in Troy.

Students used MapQuest to help determine, among other things, the amount of miles taken in their trips, and the older students had to convert the miles into kilometers.

Upcoming sixth, seventh and eighth graders enrolled in CHMS were allowed to attend.

Those who participated in the program were able to use miniature laptops at their desks to create power points of their projects.

According to Green, this allowed many students to learn and become more familiar with Microsoft Powerpoint.

“This year they built ramps and studied friction,” Green said.

“They studied the heart and dissected a pig’s heart.”

The students also got to enjoy a pizza party, but they also enjoyed learning new things.

“I like the Chemistry,” said Stephen Cooper.

“I learned that the teachers don’t just do things, they have to prepare,” said Cole Wilson.

Rocio Estevel said she enjoyed watching the chemistry demonstration, in which, a chemical reaction involving dye, produced a green foam.

According to Green, this camp is funded by the Troy City School Board.

“We appreciate the Troy City School Board for funding the this and helping the students learn about math and science,” she said.