campinquiry2011-3The James Randi Educational Foundation is proud to have contributed to the unique experience offered by Camp Inquiry. The Foundation served as a sponsor for this year’s session, which took place August 1-6, 2011 in Holland, New York. The camp—founded in 2004—is a program of the Center for Inquiry, a non-profit working to promote science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values in society.

For the nearly fifty campers—aged 7 to 17—Camp Inquiry offers much of what you would expect from any residential summer camp. There are roasted marshmallows, nature hikes, team sports, sing alongs, crafts, and new friendships, but that’s where the adventure just begins. The thing that makes this camp special is its mission to help kids adopt a reason-guided and evidence-based approach to taking on all of life's questions. The campers—through dozens of engaging activities, presentations, and discussions—explore the tools of critical thinking, scientific skepticism, and information literacy. The week also offers the kids plenty of opportunities to exercise their intellectual muscles as they take on the challenges of navigating pseudoscientific claims, urban legends, media misinformation, the pitfalls of the internet, and even some of their own cherished beliefs.

The success of Camp Inquiry (measured by the high number of returning campers each year) would be impossible without the hard work of its dedicated staff, the commitment of its teacher/counselors, and the continued participation of leading thinkers from a variety of fields.  While these elements are vital to successfully advancing the mission and message of Camp Inquiry, it’s the passionate, inspiring, and often fun way that the message is delivered that renders it most effective. Contributors to Camp Inquiry go beyond stressing the value of the reason-based/scientific perspective in figuring out what’s true or not. They are also committed to examining the profound role that a rational outlook can play in a rich and fulfilling life.  This is mirrored in every aspect of a camp culture that’s always asking kids to look a little closer.  As Karen Strachan, Director of Camp Inquiry, put it: “at this camp, stargazing is also an exploration of the universe, a walk in the woods is a skeptical study of spooks, the science classroom has no walls, and history and philosophy have front seats around the campfire.”

One of the many extraordinary experinces that makes Camp Inquiry so memorable for participants is the chance to spend time with some remarkable visitors. This year's guests included poet, author, and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, Rebecca Watson of Skepchick.org and The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and Ben Radford, a leading paranormal investigator. They gave presentations, led discussions, and shared thier passion for big questions and the inquiring spirit.

michael-blanford-at-camp-inqThe JREF’s contributions to this year’s program included a number of presentations and activities presented by Michael Blanford, the foundation’s Director of Educational Programs, who has been providing content for Camp Inquiry since 2009. The presentations included an exploration of the Cottingley Fairies affair and the role celebrity played in the public’s acceptance of this extraordinary claim. Another was an examination of research into ESP and the problems associated with investigating it scientifically, which gave campers a chance try their hands at designing and conducting an ESP experiment. This afforded a first-hand look at the problems associated with designing and conducting parapsychology (or any other) experiments while attempting to protect the integrity of their results from the influence of bias, error, and even fraud.  The final program offered by Blanford was a presentation titled:  “Science: What is it and How does it Work?” which was followed by a group discussion on the uses and limitations of science. This offered campers a chance to move beyond the over-simplified “scientific method” they learned about in school and to gain a better understand of the entire “scientific process" and the role it plays in everyone's life.

The JREF has found that the benefits of our participation in Camp Inquiry have a reach that extends far beyond the fifty or so campers present. Much of the content we offer at Camp Inquiry is being developed for use as classroom modules and teaching guides, which the JREF will be making available free of charge to any educators who want to use them in their classroom or other educational setting.  The camp offers us a great opportunity to develop, test, and refine the activities and related resources we are developing at the JREF before we make them available to educators.

In addition to offering educational content to Camp Inquiry, the JREF provided the week’s most anticipated visitor, JREF founder James Randi. Randi was honored to be invited to share his insights with the young skeptics of Camp Inquiry once again (he was there in 2010 as well). Randi made the most of his day at camp, which began with a Q & A session followed by several hours of Randi entertaining and inspiring campers with his stories and even some magic. The evening offered even more, as Randi appeared as the featured speaker during the final dinner for campers and their families. He took the opportunity to stress the importance of Camp Inquiry through a challenge he made to the campers: “We must do what we can to support programs like Camp Inquiry. I promise to come back next year, and every year after that, for as long as they will have me, as long as all of you will promise come back as well.”

We're confident that Camp Inquiry will enjoy continued success and growth in the years to come. It is our hope that we can continue to find new ways to share in and contribute to this inportant program to advance our shared mission of promoting science and reason through education.