News release from IPFW:
Middle school students vie for trip to national finals in Indiana Future City Regional Competition
(January 16, 2015) — Thirty teams of Indiana middle school students will present their city design concepts and models on Saturday, January 24, in the Indiana Future City® Regional Competition at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW).
The public is invited to view and discuss the models with the teams between 9 and 11:30 a.m. in the Walb Student Union Ballroom.
Corporate partner Indiana Michigan Power will award gift cards and medals to finalists and participation gifts to each educator and official team presenter. Fourteen organizations offer special awards to recognize excellence in city features associated with their organizations. Each attending school receives an education participation cash award.
The winning team will advance to the National Future City Finals in Washington, D.C.
Work started in the fall semester
This past fall, nearly 800 Indiana middle school students joined 40,000 students across the country in DiscoverE’s 2015 Future City® Competition.
Each year, Future City highlights a current issue and challenges students to formulate innovative solutions as they design a virtual 3D city map using SimCityâ„¢ software and build a tabletop scale model made from recycled materials. This year’s theme, “Feeding Future Cities,” includes a research essay describing their concept and writing a brief narrative promoting their city.
Student teams explored today’s urban agriculture, from aeroponic systems for roof-top farms and recycled gray water to the sustainability-driven farm-to-table movement, then proposed a futuristic solution for growing crops within the confines of their city. They considered the world’s future population growth and the increasing pressures on our global food supplies such as less farmable land, more water pollution, and growing water scarcity, to name a few.
Projects emphasize STEM, teamwork
The annual challenge received national attention and acclaim for its role in encouraging middle school students nationwide to develop their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Through hands-on applications, Future City participants discover how engineering is accessible and can make a difference in the world.
“This project-based team effort sparks student interest in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines at a critical point in their education and increases their knowledge of the needs within their communities,” said Carol Dostal, outreach director for the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science.
All teams are guided by an educator and a volunteer mentor. “The educators and mentors should all be applauded for their dedicated semester-long support of their teams,” said Dostal.
For information about Future City or mentoring, visit futurecity.org or contact Indiana Future City Coordinator Carol Dostal at 260-481-6905 or email dostalc@ipfw.edu. For Indiana Competition information or to view photos from the 2014 competition, go to etcs.ipfw.edu/fcc.
About Future City® Competition
The Future City Competition, a program of DiscoverE, is a national, project-based learning experience where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Teams from 37 regions will present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Over 40,000 students, representing 1,350 schools, take part in the Future City® Competition. Learn more at futurecity.org and visit the Facebook page for more information and updates on the Future City® Competition.About DiscoverE
The mission of DiscoverE is to sustain and grow a dynamic engineering profession through outreach, education, celebration and volunteerism. DiscoverE supports a network of thousands of volunteers in its partner coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations, and government agencies. Together they meet a vital need: introducing students, parents, and educators to engineering, engaging them in hands-on engineering experiences and making science and math relevant. For more information, visit discovere.org.
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