Gears were turning at Northeastern State University's Bagley Hall Thursday, as local students worked on their projects during NSU's RACE Summer Academies.

There were several academies for kids to choose from, including a robotics academy and a Rube Goldberg academy.

Kids ages 4-5 participated in a robots course, wherein they explored popular robot movies and books, while learning how to make their own robots from household items. Thursday, the students built an "art robot" out of a plastic cup, clothespins, markers and a tiny motor.

"They were very excited for this," said Karissa Pierson, junior at NSU. "They were asking all week, when are we going to make the robot that moves? When are we going to make the art robot?"

Pierson said they'll cap off the week by letting the kids make costumes to become robots themselves.

Just down the hall from the robotics academy, 8-year-olds were building Rube Goldberg machines. After starting off with a game of Mousetrap, the students quickly began constructing their own contraptions, including roller coasters and machines made from Rube Goldberg kits.

According to Laura Myers, Grand View Middle School science teacher, the Goldberg students were ahead of the curve when it came to building their machines.

"They're doing some of my sixth-grade lessons for potential energy," she said. "I have yet to see a roller coaster built like this, and I've taught two years to sixth-graders and these are third- and fourth-graders. It's interesting, because I feel like sometimes we stifle that creativity. So, the third- and fourth-graders have surprised me a little bit with how much more they'll be like, 'Oh, we could do this, we could do that.'"

The RACE academies aren't just for parents looking for ways to keep their kids occupied during the summer. They're for educational purposes, as well.

"Kids, when they leave [school] for the summer, they kind of forget everything," said Barbara Fuller, director of Robotics Academy of Critical Engagement. "So we like to do these, because it gives them another month to kind of enhance what they just came out of school doing."

Volunteers aren't teaching the kids at NSU's camps; teachers are doing that. Fuller said STEM is very specific about whom it hires, so they not only have the background in the subjects that they're teaching, but they also know how to control a classroom.

"We want the kids to come in and know they have an experienced teacher," she said. "We have a lot of children who are on the spectrum, so our teachers understand that and they can adapt the lessons very easily for them."

The camps have become particularly popular among the students enrolled, as well as the teachers.

Savanna Weis came from Florida to help out with the RACE academies.

"I enjoy coming back and working, because I helped start this program when it was just in its infancy," said Weis. "We started with four girls. Now we have our competition team, our students resources and our summer academies for the youth. I really enjoy seeing the ways that our program is growing."

Fuller said she hopes to soon offer RACE Academies during the regular school year.

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Youngsters go high-tech at robotics academy - Tahlequah Daily Press