This program has two key tasks. One is for five University of Utah Materials Science and Engineering undergraduates to facilitate in five 5th or 6th grade classes hands-on modules on energy sources and conversion, energy efficiency, and air pollution. As the 5th and 6th grade students learn about the issues and the use of materials science and engineering to solve the issues, they prepare class projects to communicate what they have learned to the community. The second task is for the undergraduates to make presentations in high school classes and conduct an essay-writing contest for the high school students on use of materials to solve energy and pollution problems. The winners will present their essays at a special program at the Leonardo Science Center in Salt Lake City. Both tasks link science concepts with societal issues and give both undergraduates and K-12 students opportunities for improving their communications skills.
TECHNICAL DETAILS: Energy, air quality, and climate change are key issues that require advances in materials science and engineering to achieve sustainable solutions. The approach of the program is for the PI to teach university undergraduates about the issues and technologies and how to use hands-on activities to communicate the issues and technologies to K-12 students. The university students then work throughout the year with the K-12 students to come up with creative ways to solve energy and pollution challenges and to communicate the issues and solutions to the community. The students learn about efficiency of energy conversion for vehicles, electricity generation, and home heating. They gather data to compare efficiency of compact fluorescent lights versus incandescent lights, to compare the consumption of gasoline and pollution emissions for various types of vehicles, and to explore factors affecting electricity and natural gas use in homes. They then carry out calculations to show quantitatively how much energy can be saved and pollution reduced by making the right choices. Finally, they prepare charts, artwork, brochures, web sites, CDs, slogan buttons or other modes of communication to convey their results and recommendations to the community.
