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17 Mar 2010
Pulaski County fifth graders test their academic, team-building skills at energy-related event held at The Center for Rural Development
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Elementary school students from across Pulaski County honed their amateur engineering skills at The Center for Rural Development on March 9 at a special event highlighting energy efficiency in home construction.
The 178 students—all fifth-graders representing each of the county’s eight elementary schools— turned The Center into a construction zone of sorts as they worked in teams to design and construct cardboard model houses with a variety of energy-saving features.
The task was part of a student competition to see which team could build the most energy-efficient structure at the “Energy Engineering Symposium – Pathway to Success!,” a one-day event sponsored by Pulaski County schools and funded by a PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment) environmental education grant.
The event gave students hands-on experience in applying science, math, and engineering to obtain real-world solutions, according to Mardi Montgomery, director of special programs for the Pulaski County School System.
“With the assistance of the engineering mentors, students were able to apply their own energy-saving ideas while learning the importance of social and personal decisions based on perceptions of benefits and risks,” Montgomery, speaking on behalf of Pulaski County Gifted and Talented program staff, said.
During the exercise, teams were given one hour to build an energy-efficient structure using scissors, glue, construction paper, and insulation-type building materials supplied by the school’s building center. Each structure had to be designed according to a strict building code as outlined in the rules of the contest.
To test the energy-efficiency construction of each custom-built cardboard house, a sealed bag containing eight ice cubes was placed inside the closed structure. After 10 minutes, a representative from each team recorded the interior temperature at ceiling level.
Building the most energy-efficient cardboard structures were Shopville Elementary Team B: Isabella Martin, Dakota McMullin, Alesha Meece, Isabella Neeley, and Makayla Ping; Pulaski Elementary Team CC: Corey Sevick, Laura Estes, Caleb Grote, and Jasmine Hall; Oak Hill Elementary Team A: Trevor Andrus, Michael Barry, Lucas Coslow, Emma Cravens, and Payton Cundiff; and Southern Elementary School: Zachary Cogdill, Gabriel Davis, Logan Dykes, Timothy Patric Edwards, and Courtney Eldridge.
Elementary students from Woodstock, Eubank, Nancy, and Burnside elementary schools also participated in the event.
The Center for Rural Development—the Center of Excellence for rural Kentucky and the nation—provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county primary service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com.
Photo Caption 1: Southern Elementary School students Logan Dykes, left, and Patric Edwards, both fifth-graders, examine the interior of an empty cardboard box before their team begins the task of building an energy-efficient house. Students were challenged to use scissors, glue, construction paper, and insulation-type materials to design and build a structure with energy-saving features out of a small cardboard box. The exercise was part of a student contest at the “Energy Engineering Symposium –Pathway to Success!” program sponsored by Pulaski County Schools and hosted at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. The winners were announced March 9 at the conclusion of the event, which was funded by PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment) environmental education grant.
Photo Caption 2: Nancy Elementary School fifth-grade student Kylie Sherwood and project mentor Amanda Corder seal their team’s custom-built cardboard house before heading to the judges’ table. Fifth-grade students in each of the county’s eight elementary schools worked in teams to see who could construct the most energy-efficient structure at the “Energy Engineering Symposium – Pathway to Success!” held March 9 at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. The event was sponsored by Pulaski County Schools and funded by PRIDE (Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment) environmental education grant.
Photo Caption 3: Fifth-grade students Travis McGowan, Zachary Stewart, and Jonathan Gallagher use insulation-type materials to seal a window in their custom-built, energy-efficient cardboard house. They were part of a team of county elementary students to compete in the “Energy Engineering Symposium – Pathway to Success!” program held March 9 at The Center for Rural Development in Somerset. Fifth-grade students in Pulaski County’s eight elementary schools used their academic and team-building skills to see who could design the most energy-efficient house from a cardboard box. |
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