The United Nations projects the world’s
population will increase to 9.1 billion
people by 2050. To feed all of these people,
food production will need to increase by 70
percent. In the past, humans have always
turned to agricultural expansion, but we
can no longer afford the loss of whole
ecosystems around the globe. Find a way
to feed the world without taking any more
land for agriculture and livestock.
Each group, consisting of one student
from each of the trimester courses,
developed a solution to the
problem and detailed it a
digital presentation such as a
Touchcast, Prezi or iMovie.
Two solutions - a
hydroponic system and
aquaponic system - were
selected as the best options
for hands on learning
from all the researched
possibilities. The purchase of
each system was aided by a Carnegie STEM
Excellence Pathway Partner mini‑grant
totaling $3,000.
The hydroponic system is a true
“water‑culture” system in which plant roots
are suspended in a rapidly flowing stream
of oxygen-infused nutrient. The aquaponic
system is an organic gardening system that
has been designed to grow plants and fish,
year-round. An aquaponic system grows
plants using organic nutrients supplied by
fish growing in an adjoining tank.
Utilizing skills from each of their
trimester courses, students completed the
hands-on portion of their STEAM project
this spring. They grew vegetables and
flowers using the two systems. The flowers
were transplanted to clay pots constructed
in art class. Then, students used Tinkercad,
a 3D computer aided design software, in
technology education class to design and
3D print Mother’s Day tags for the flowers.
Vegetable seedlings were donated to
North Hills Community Outreach (NHCO)
for their community garden, which
provides fresh produce for the charity’s two
food banks. The flowers were sold at Arts
Alive on May 6 with proceeds benefiting
NHCO.
Ross Township | Summer 2016 | icmags.com 41
N OR TH HI L L S SC HOOL DI STRI C T N E WS
N
orth Hills Middle
School 7th-grade
students this year
were asked “How to Feed
the World?” as part of the
building’s STEAM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts
and Mathematics) program.
The STEAM program
allows students involved in
various subject areas such
as art, family and consumer sciences
and technology education to work on a
large-scale, integrated project that utilizes
technical aspects from each course while
reinforcing life skills such as teamwork and
communication.
To start the project, students were given
the following problem.
Nor th Hills School District
Seventh-Graders Utilize STEAM Skills
to Address World Hunger and Aid
North Hills Community Outreach