Week 3:
Wrath of the 10 Year Olds

June 18, 2016

This week marked the first official week of camp. I was lucky enough to be placed with one of my favorite age groups this week–4th and 5th graders! I love them because they’re old enough to be able to understand more complex ideas, but young enough to be silly and goofy.

Throughout the week, we showed the kids around the park, where they met penguins, dolphins, and more. This specific camp was called Animal Antics, and focused on animal behavior and training. We taught the kids about operant conditioning, positive reinforcement, and target training–all topics that I learned about in depth at Cornell. The most challenging part of teaching is honestly not relaying the information, but simply keeping the kids’ attention! Especially when there’s adorable, playful bottlenose dolphins in the background…

Example of a (probably very long) behavior chain!

Next week, I’m with a group of 2nd and 3rd graders in a camp called Animal Addresses, which focuses on habitats around the world. I can’t wait to see where they take me!