Students will jump right into the engineering design process in this engineering and environmental science activity. Students will gain experience with utilizing sustainable and efficient methods to generate energy through the use of natural, renewable resources, like wind. Students will learn about the basics of kinetic and potential energy, the conservation of energy, and the transfer of energy. They will collaborate in groups to design, build, and test a wind turbine. Students will assess the efficiency of their designs by mathematically calculating the amount of power generated and discuss ways in which their designs can be improved. You may combine any two Green Engineering activities for a full-day field trip experience.

Students will explore how strains of bacteria become resistant to antibiotics through a series of hands-on activities. Students will conduct a simulation to illustrate how misused antibiotics can generate selection pressures for some bacteria to flourish. Students will then utilize biotechnology, like PCR and gel electrophoresis, to investigate whether certain strains of bacteria have developed antibiotic resistance by amplifying the ampR gene.

Students will become disease detectives and be tasked with investigating who has contracted the infectious STEM bug! Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), students will learn about the relationships between antigens and antibodies and how they are utilized to diagnose disease.

Students will learn the basic principles of immunology, including how the presence of foreign substances, known as antigens, can induce the formation of antibodies. They will participate in a simulated disease outbreak activity, investigate primary and secondary immune responses, and diagnose disease using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).