curriculum was introduced over the two-week camp culminating with a finalpresentation and skit. miniGEMS was the first free camp in San Antonio for middle school girlsthat had a special focus on autonomous ground, air, and underwater robots. miniGEMS campswas led by undergraduate and graduate students from various UIW STEAM programs includingEngineering and Biomedical Sciences. Middle school teachers were hired to participate in thecamp and they helped recruit the middle school students from their respective schools.miniGEMS high school student alumni came back as peer mentors for the camp. An End ofSummer Conference and Banquet was held for all campers, their parents, and teachers on August4. miniGEMS clubs are now being formed in some of the
specialized interests (Itoet al., 2009), but it has expanded to be used as a way to describe informal learning experiencesthat seek to support these interactions.High-school aged youth can participate in the weekend program as long a single semester to aslong as four years. Each year, new teenagers are recruited to participate when other teensgraduate. Each cohort of 25 interns includes five returning interns who lead a group of five newinterns. At the start of a 10-week long session, youth in teams are presented with a designchallenge: to imagine then create an engaging and educational visitor experience. Interns work inteams to communicate their ideas effectively with one another as they exchange information andconcepts, and engage in peer-to-peer