Middle School

Eighth grade students have been taking part in a six-week-long STEM project in Science class where they collaborate in teams to design sustainable, energy-efficient buildings. Each team has a $20 million budget and must decide on the best ways to meet the desired goals of the potential building owner. Along the way, they perform a variety of experiments to learn about renewable resources and sustainable construction practices. The experiments include exploring the benefits of a green roof system, studying how wind flows around buildings of various shapes, measuring how sunlight reflects off various buildings and onto the surrounding highways, testing how the position of a solar panel affects its ability to generate electricity, and investigating how blade angle affects the efficiency of a wind turbine. Once the design process and exploration are completed, students will create deliverable items to showcase their building designs. These items include a blueprint, a scale model, a site plan of the property, and a breakdown of energy and water costs and savings. Each team will use these items to "pitch" their designs to a panel of real engineers who will join us as judges. In the end, one design team will be chosen by the engineers as the winning company.