Stop wasting food! How can we grow and raise food in an urban area?
My students attend a STEM school that is in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona.
They are highly literate in technology and social media. They are in the eighth grade and are preparing for high school. They live in an area that once was a large farming community and is changing over to an urban area. The large farms are disappearing and changing in to neighborhoods and retail areas.
My Project
My students already have an 80 gallon aquarium and a 3 shelf plant stand. The requested resources will be used to design and construct an aquaponics or water management system. The water will be circulated from the aquarium to plants. The students will measure nutrients, pH, and adjust different variables to increase plant growth and monitor fish growth. The students will construct a working model that could be expanded to a factory or abandoned building where it could provide fresh food and fish to people. The students will use the food they grow to feed a tortoise that is in our outdoor classroom.
My students need materials like tubing, pumps, and primer to design the proposed aquaponics system.
This project will provide a working model for students to make changes and direct observations to a system. The students will have to use problem solving skills as they engineer and build the water management system. They will visibly see the results of their work as the plants and fish grow.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Laursen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.