Students map the Nashoba Brook Watershed specifically in Acton, MA. They trace how invisible particles travel from local roads and schools to the turtle release site, linking Earth's spheres through the lens of conservation.
Students act as environmental engineers to solve a real-world ecosystem crisis (soil erosion) by building an "Abiotic Anchor" to protect biotic factors in a coastal habitat.
Students explore the delicate balance of ecosystem communities by engineering a "Population Mobile" that demonstrates how the removal of one species impacts the entire dependency web.
Focusing on plant responses to seasonal changes, students engineer a "Dormancy Deck"—a protective structure designed to help a plant model survive a simulated winter freeze.
Students investigate how temperature affects animal survival in the desert by engineering a "Cooling Cave" that uses physical environmental characteristics to reduce heat.
Students design and build a model aquatic habitat to observe and record interactions between living fish (models) and non-living components like water, rocks, and bubbles.
Students investigate how populations and communities of organisms are dependent on one another and their environment by engineering a "Dependency Web" that maintains stability during environmental changes.
Students examine the complex interactions between biotic and abiotic factors by engineering solutions to protect an ecosystem from environmental stressors.