HOW IT WORKS
Earth Design 2000 is an inquiry-based program that motivates students to use the scientific method to design and construct a project  or invention that can protect the earth’s environment. This standards-based program encourages students to identify a problem, research it, and use problem-solving strategies to design a model solution. Students are encouraged to use Internet Web sites and CD-ROM encyclopedias to gather information and statistics about problems affecting the earth’s environment, such as pollution. They develop a project or invention that helps solve the problem, such as a way to recover metal from a garbage dump. They also read about individuals and groups who have made major contributions to environmental protection. The students demonstrate their projects and inventions to the class, and the outstanding ones are displayed at the school science fair. These projects will also be displayed at our architecture, design, and technology fair.

THE STUDENTS
Four sixth grade classes and two special education classes participated in Earth Design 2000, but it is easily adapted to other grades.

THE STAFF
Manette Gampel has been teaching science for almost twenty years. She is the coordinator of her school’s architecture and design program, which has been recognized as an exemplary program for middle school. She has received several grants and was a past recipient of an IMPACT II grant for her program Soda Bottle City in the Year 2000. Her work has been featured in several publications, and she has lectured citywide and at national conferences on the value of incorporating architecture and computer-aided design into middle school science and mathematics programs.

WHAT YOU NEED
Classroom computers with Internet access and CD-ROM encyclopedias and TIME magazine software, if available. Internet access enables students to research local pollution problems and gather data for their reports. A visit by experts from the Salvadori Center helps students understand the need to protect the environment when designing infrastructure in cities, such as the inclusion of modern recycling plants.

OVERALL VALUE
Earth Design 2000 encourages students to design inventions that emulate professional scientists by using the scientific method. Students may work alone or in groups to study an environmental problem and design a solution in the form of a project or an invention. Students report on their work in classroom presentations and have an opportunity to answer questions from other students. Besides resulting in fascinating science fair projects, Earth Design 2000 helps students develop awareness of what each person can do to protect the environment.