Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™

Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™

Welcome to the Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™! This playful lesson series is designed especially for kids and families practicing “social distancing” during March/April of 2020. All ages are welcome to participate. Science, math, reading, art, engineering, social studies, leadership and more are all tied together in this project…designed to keep kids busy learning while they play for days. Note: Experts in the process of play (aka children), will have a serious advantage here.

Below are 12 steps that will guide you on your Growing Green Kids City & Systems™ journey. You’ll experience your neighborhood with new, playful, green perspectives. You’ll get to know the people and groups that keep our communities vibrant. You’ll play with how water, land, air, and living things connect to one another. You’ll lead by utilizing your creativity and your knowledge of the area in green design.

Learn some basics about EnviroSTEM
Adventure in the role of city planner
Explore ecological systems right where you live
Design and plan proactively for community health and wellness
Research people and place by reading local maps and resource pages
Get creative and improve your design based on your local needs
Build a model of an urban landscape using natural items, recyclables, art supplies and reusable objects from around your house.
Iterate like a real engineer as you design, build, test, improve your project again and again! Engineer your cityscape model from 3 dimensional to 4 dimensional when it changes, or evolves, over time. Get mathy with percentages, estimation, and measurements. Play with systems-thinking for waste water, storm water, and electricity.
Write creatively using your community cityscape model as a prompt.
Share your project and stories.
Declare a challenge with other classmates, cousins, friends, families, neighbors to try the Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™ then share some more!
Practice zero waste. Save the pictures, but really green your project by recycling, composting and replacing items.

Using things already in your home, yard or neighborhood you’ll add the layers of learning listed above to your very own cityscape. Investigate, notice, wander, wonder with nature right where you live. Enjoy this environmental STEM learning journey for 3 to 5 days and beyond…or for as long as you can stand the set-up before cleaning it up! Recommended is a large workspace that can get a little messy such as bedroom floor, garage, or a card table set up in the corner. Get started today using the more detailed steps and directions listed below.

Step 1. Learn to some enviroSTEM basics.

Environmental STEM means connecting the knowledge, skills and our actions with environmental science and science, technology, engineering, and math. Here’s a picture of the process developed by Growing Green Hearts:

Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™ is more than a board game or worksheet. This enviroSTEM challenge can last for days because:

There is NOT one right answer.
What you build will change and evolve, and that’s what process is all about!
You’ll use your imagination to create new solutions.
The engineering design process includes many iterations of: design, build, test, improve.
Materials we will use are all recyclable, reusable, compostable.
Stuff you already have around the house can be used in unique ways.

At the end of your challenge, please do your best to practice the “Leave No Trace” and “Zero Waste” philosophies, which look like:

Taking a picture to share rather than keeping the stuff.
Returning natural objects back to nature.
Taking apart your project and appropriately sorting the materials for recycling or returning them to where you found them.
Cleaning your space back to the way it looked before, with little waste.

Step 2. You are now a city planner!

You’re the city planner and you are great at noticing things around you. You learn more and more about the place where you live everyday because you slow down to notice how the land, air, water, and living things behave. The city where you live has a chunk of land that has been restored from a polluted area. Using your suggestions and noticing, the land will be changed into a combination of green space, residences, and businesses. The problem you need to solve is to create a model showing the plan for the land and how your plans and model meet the criteria and constraints.

Criteria and Constraints:

Interconnect systems of land, air, water, and living things in your design model. (Where does the water go? Where is a hill or valley? Do residents get fresh air?)
Include at least 5 strategies for climate change forward thinking (ex. Mass transit, walk/bike paths, high density housing, electric car charging stations, solar garden, wind power, electrification of neighborhoods, forests to sink carbon, rain gardens to filter water, pocket prairies to support pollinators, community gardens to supply local food, etc)
Design the area with zoning and/or design work for: 30% green space, 30% residential, 30% business/commercial, and 10% infrastructure like roads/bike paths.
Infrastructure for storm water management (streets, wetlands, storm ponds), potable water (tap water, water towers) and sewer water (toilets, sink water) are separate from each other but all 3 are included.
Infrastructure for electricity transmission like powerlines is included but the power plant or clean energy source may be offsite.
Decide upon many small parks that compartmentalize habitats OR larger green space with larger, continuous habitat
Use materials that are 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable in construction of your model.
Keep a notebook with ideas, needs, wants and stories connected to your project.

Step 3. Notice, collect.

Go outside to explore your yard or local park. Walk, speed up or run around sometimes to get sunshine and exercise too! While you’re enjoying the fresh air, here’s a list of things to look for and collect.

Items to look for and collect…
- dried grasses, leaves, flowers from different plants
- something blue…string, plastic, cloth or paper to represent water
- rubber bands, string, or other creative fasteners
- water, sand, woodchips
- 10-20 sticks from a variety of trees
- 5-10 rocks of different shapes and sizes

Notice what surrounds you outside by slowing down and using your senses like touch, sight, smell, and hearing. Make a list of noticings on paper or in your mind.

Questions to answer as I explore outside where I live…
- Where does the water go?
- How many storm drains are nearby?
- Which trees are biggest?
- Which shrubs have berries?
- Which trees still have leaves?
- Have the prairie plants been feeding the birds?
- Have I collected items that represent each of the 4 ecological systems? …Land? Air? Water? Living things?

You will need some items from around your apartment or house too. Once you return from your exploring mission, look for these things and other objects you can use creatively in building your model. Imagine how you will show parks, plants, buildings, parking lots, roads, waterways and more.

Materials from around my apartment or house that will help me build by model…rubber bands, string, or other creative fasteners
- blocks, legos, toy cars, toy figures
- a large cardboard, old sheet, cloth or shower curtain
- markers, crayons, colored pencils or watercolor paints
- rubber bands, string, or other creative fasteners
- newspaper, plastic packaging, bags
- reusable bowls, trays, or tools

Step 4. Begin Design.

Turn your imagination on to full power! It’s time to begin to meet the challenge. Reread Step 2 above and begin designing your community by drawing some maps in your notebook. Design work can look like a series of drawings or even conversations with another person. Get creative in thinking about how you will use the objects you collected. Decide upon the best workspace too.

This model is just getting started! Notice the hills, buildings, roads, lakes and wetlands.

Step 5. Research.

Take a break from creating to do some reading research. Using a tech tool to visit websites or get a print-out from an adult. Links to websites are below to help guide your research. Your research goal is to better understand which individuals, careers, and groups help make our communities healthy.

Here are some suggested readings with guiding questions and links to help kids understand “individuals, careers, and groups help make our communities healthy.”

What city do you live in? Who is the mayor of your city? (Go to your city’s webpage)
Citizens of your city and county volunteer to be commissioners. That means they serve the community by providing feedback, expertise, and time with a team of people interested in the same topic. What are the names of your city or county commissions and commissioners? (Go to your city’s webpage. Go to your county webpage.)
Everyone lives in a watershed. What watershed district do you live in? Here’s a great map to get you started: https://www.minnehahacreek.org/permits/additional-information/am-i-district
What was happening in your city 2 generations ago? Your county or city webpage may provide answers.
What people were and are indigenous to the land now called your city. What was this place known for 7 generations ago? 12 generations ago? What languages were spoke here? Do any of those words remain today in the names of parks, monuments, rivers, streams, or streets? Learn about indigenous language, maps, culture and find more links here: http://www.native-languages.org/minnesota.htm
People who work for your state’s pollution control agency work with others to prevent, monitor, and even clean up pollution. Do you have some pollution clean-up sites near you? The worst cases are called ‘SuperFund sites” and can be searched here: https://www.pca.state.mn.us/waste/state-superfund-site-summaries
Volunteers across the state are working together for clean water by adopting storm drains. Have the stormdrains in yrou neighborhood been adopted yet? By whom and what did they name the drains? Check out this map to find out! https://adopt-a-drain.org/map
The Bureau of Water and Soil Resources works with your county, city and even volunteer gardeners to care for nature where you live. Learn more about how your lawn can BEE the change using the power of prairie plants and legumes: https://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l
The Department of Natural Resources helps to keep trees, animals and their habitats healthy. Read about what tree species are best for our changing climate here: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2018/mar-apr/planting-trees-for-climate-change.html

Step 6. Use what you have learned to add to your design.

Have you ever heard the saying “back to the drawing board”? Well, after all of that research it is time for you to go back to your notebook! Don’t start over, just add to what you’ve got so far. Look again at your designs. Think back to the design conversations you had. What can you add to your design about water, plants, pollution, storm drains?

Apply what you have learned in some new ways! Based on what you learned about language, history, people, plants, or animals…

What will you name your parks, streets, or businesses?
Where are the healthiest place for residents to play, learn, work, and live?
How do electricity, water, and waste come and go from your community and who is in charge of that?

Step 7. Begin to Build.

Hands-on! Use the large cardboard, a cloth or shower curtain to represent your piece of land. Add the sticks, rocks, natural items along with recyclable paper, reusable bowls, and other objects. Use boxes, blocks, or other materials to represent buildings. Add paper creations, color things with crayons, markers or colored pencils. The planning and creating is up to you, as city planner! As you build, be sure to use your list of criteria and constraints that are listed in step 2.

Get mathy! One average cereal box represents a 3-story apartment or senior living complex. With that relative scale in mind, how big should a house, restaurant, or grocery store be? How could you create a scale using inches or centimeters?

Step 8. Test & Improve again and again. From 3D to 4D.

As city planner, you are in charge of improving areas that need some work or connection. Use criteria and constraints (listed below and in step 2) to test your work. Test, improve, collect more objects outside, walk to keep noticing in your neighborhood, then add to your design and keep building!

Electricity BONUS challenge! Just 3 meters of string represents all of the power lines in your community. Can you connect each home, business and building to electric power?

Waste Water BONUS challenge! What goes down the drain and down the toilet must go to the waste water treatment plant in pipes before getting into natural waterways. Pick one corner of your landscape to represent the place to connect new pipe to the main sewer line going to the waste water treatment plant. If you have just 2 meters of string to represent all of the sewer lines for your project, will all new buildings be connected to sewer lines?

Keep considering how the land, air, water, and living things constantly interact over time. Your model is considered 3D, or three dimensional because of the length, width, and height. The 4^th dimension you are adding now is time.

Natural systems change over time. (Did you notice that outside? If not go check it out!) Examples include rocks and water cycling, weather changing, and habitat succession. Your interconnected systems are changing over time too…especially due to human impact. How will your considerations of interconnected systems lead to a healthy, vibrant community?

Check your work! Here’s that Criteria & Constraints list from step 2:

Interconnect systems of land, air, water, and living things in your design model. (Where does the water go? Where is a hill or valley? Do residents get fresh air?)
Include at least 5 strategies for climate change forward thinking (ex. Mass transit, walk/bike paths, high density housing, electric car charging stations, solar garden, wind power, electrification of neighborhoods, forests to sink carbon, rain gardens to filter water, pocket prairies to support pollinators, community gardens to supply local food, etc)
Design the area with zoning and/or design work for: 30% green space, 30% residential, 30% business/commercial, and 10% infrastructure like roads/bike paths.
Infrastructure for storm water management (streets, wetlands, storm ponds), potable water (tap water, water towers) and sewer water (toilets, sink water) are separate from each other but all 3 are included.
Infrastructure for electricity transmission like powerlines is included but the power plant or clean energy source may be offsite.
Decide upon many small parks that compartmentalize habitats OR larger green space with larger, continuous habitat
Use materials that are 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable in construction of your model.
Keep a notebook with ideas, needs, wants and stories connected to your project.

Step 9. Your model is a writing prompt that can be used to spark ideas!

That’s right, it’s time to write. Consider this, what you built is the setting for your future stories! Use your 4D model as a writing prompt. Record your stories in your notebook.

Look at the model you have built. Then get started writing in your notebook. If you need a few starters, try this…

Create some characters.
Decide where on your 4D model they live.
Pick a year.
What do people like to do there for fun or work?
What languages do they speak?
What local foods do they eat?
What events happen in this place over time?
How do the characters you create connect to the land, air, water, and living things where they live?
What disasterous problems take place?
Who are the local heroes that come up with solutions?

Step 10. Share.

Share your hard work, ideas, and creativity with others. Here’s how:

Take some photos of your project.
Write a story or two about who lives there and the adventures they go on.
Share your photos and stories with family by talking or videocall on the phone.
Share your photos and stories with teachers through email or app.
Share your photos with friends through social media or text.
Share your EnviroSTEM story or photo of your hard work with learning communities through GrowingGreenHeart’s facebook page, Instagram, or Twitter. #GrowingGreenHearts with #EnviroSTEM and #NaturePlay!

Step 11. Declare a community model-building challenge! Could the 4D community you built somehow connect through story with a community your cousins or classmates designed? Imagine that!

Step 12. Last but not least…. No waste?

At the beginning of this enviroSTEM challenge, we committed to reducing waste. Next, please practice the “Leave No Trace” philosophy by:

Taking a picture to share rather than keeping the “stuff”
Returning natural objects back to nature.
Taking apart your project and appropriately sorting the materials for recycling or returning them where you found them.
Cleaning your space back to the way it looked before, with little waste

The material posted here is copyrighted and for use by individuals. Contact Growing Green Hearts, LLC for use with classrooms, districts, or other institutions. Growing Green Hearts, LLC is a social business working to serve locally and globally through environmental education curriculum writing, site visits for kids, enviroSTEM teacher trainings, and natural playground coaching.

This playful lesson series, Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™ is designed especially for kids and families practicing “social distancing” during March/April of 2020. All ages are welcome to participate. Science, math, reading, art, engineering, social studies, leadership and more are all tied together in this project…designed to keep kids busy learning while they play for days! Note: Experts in the process of play (aka children), will have a serious advantage here!

Our shared resources, global community, and future generations benefit from environmental stewardship actions by today’s green leaders. Thank you for playing with Growing Green Kids City & Systems Engineering Design Challenge™ and greening where you live!

Play. Learn. Love.

March 17, 2020