Course Descriptions
Enrolled Mazemakers will submit their top choices in the spring.
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Art
Creativity abounds
Learn from the masters, from Monet to Pollock, and apply their styles to create original works of art. Campers are introduced to a variety of artists, techniques, and art forms using media ranging from charcoal to oil pastels to clay.
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Architecture
A structural art
Design a Modernist home, create a retro-inspired baseball park or revamp an urban space. Campers solve architectural problems, plan and construct their own buildings. Learning principles of design, scale and structure, architects turn their two-dimensional sketches and blueprints into three-dimensional models.
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Athletic Games
Outdoor fun
Develop teamwork and physical skills through outdoor play. Games range from classics (soccer, Capture the Flag) to new favorites (Quidditch, Corral) to everything in between.
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Creative Writing
In their own voice
Campers freewrite, play games, and experiment with a wide variety of writing forms as they build a portfolio of work and publish a literary magazine. With an emphasis on sharing and revision, campers read, listen and give feedback.
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Dance
Get up and move!
All genders are welcome to explore rhythm and movement through dance at Mazemakers. Campers learn and help to choreograph an original dance to be performed at the Open House for friends and family. Get up and move!
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Digital Music
Mix your own beats
Explore the basics of making digital music. Using GarageBand, campers compose original songs, rhythms and grooves. Participants work both independently and collaboratively to create beats and melodies and develop critical listening skills. Campers may bring musical instruments during the recording process.
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Drama
All the world’s a stage
Drama is first and foremost about acting. Mazemakers brainstorm ideas inspired through improv, then use the material to create a script which is then rehearsed and performed at the Open House for friends and family.
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Game Design
Cutting edge design
Create your own computer game using basic programming and animation techniques. Now one of our most popular classes, participants turn from game-players to creators as they create their own role-playing games, complete with interactive mazes full of challenges, riddles and conflicts.
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Makers
Make something!
Tinker with all of the technology Mazemakers has to offer (including 3-D printing, laser cutting, circuitry, and robotics). After learning how to use the technology, campers turn tinkering into inventions of their own using any combination of the materials and tools available.
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Mathematics
It all adds up to fun
Dive into the fun side of math! The Mazematics course focuses on math games, open ended problem solving and probability while allowing budding mathematicians to stretch and hone their skills.
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Photography
Capture your world
Take your own pictures and turn them into works of digital art. Campers use both principles of photographic composition and Adobe Photoshop to shoot and manipulate their own work. While some campers choose to bring their own cameras, Mazemakers has digital cameras available for camper use.
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Robotics
Automate your imagination
Using Lego Mindstorms, campers design, build and program their own robot. Basic programming, simple machines and testing all come into play as teams move their robots toward completion. Through hands-on learning young people are introduced to the basic principles of robotics.
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Science
Inquiring minds
Observe, hypothesize and test your ideas about technology and the natural world. In Science, the premium is on "hands-on", fun projects that convey basic scientific knowledge and allow for participation in the scientific method (i.e., drawing conclusions through experiment and observation), all removed from the constraints of school.
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Video
Be a star
Write, direct, and star in your own cinematic masterpiece. Basic concepts of camera operation and visual storytelling prepare campers for the production of a 5-10 minute video that will premiere at the Open House. Mazemakers can harken back to a specific film for a spoof, apply the styles of a genre to a series of vignettes or create their own short with original characters and unexpected twists.
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Web Design
Creativity by design
Learn fundamental design techniques, and create your own web page. Mazemakers acquire the technical skills (using Adobe Dreamweaver), the aesthetic know-how and the knowledge of layout and information design to turn their concepts into a functional website.
Mazeblazers
What makes a leader?
Mazeblazers is an optional course with a focus on leadership and teamwork development open to all young people entering 7th or 8th grade. Each Mazeblazers class together decides – through brainstorming, negotiation, and compromise, all guided, of course, by Mazemakers counselors – on an "adventure" and a community service project. All decisions and plans are made in consultation with parents/guardians all along the way.
Day-to-day activities include: early on, group-connecting exercises, to establish trust and common knowledge; during the first week, decision-making processes; planning and coordination; carrying out the adventure and the community service project; and processing and presenting information from these two events (particularly the community service) to the MM community. Along the way, Mazeblazers are introduced to basic leadership and teamwork ideas and techniques (for example, the difference between "leading" and "facilitating" in a task).
Some past examples of "adventures": a day trip to a Boston museum; a hike up Mount Monadnock. Typically, the adventure is followed by an overnight at Meadowbrook.
Some past examples of community service: helping stock food and supplies at a food pantry; cleaning the grounds at a Boston community center.
Again, each session, one "adventure" and one community service project are selected.
Challenges
Challenges are large-group collaboration activities in which the community must solve a complex problem through leadership, cooperation, and teamwork.
Challenges form an important component of the Mazemakers program, helping to build leadership skills and strengthen community while providing the opportunity for young people to prepare for a society that requires and values creative thinking. There are usually 2 to 3 Challenges per session. On Challenge days, classes are either shortened or suspended, depending of the level of challenge and the length of time needed to solve it.
