Throughout the semester, Upper School Science 10 students have been answering some burning questions that recently led to their flagship fire extinguisher projects. The project incorporated both chemistry and engineering practices to document the unique group design of a working fire extinguisher.
Students worked to understand gas laws, acid-base chemistry, CAD designing, and 3D printing. In scientific terms, they’ve been diving into stoichiometry, the branch of chemistry that studies the relationships of, often quantitatively, combining elements. They’ve been looking at volume, pressure, acid-base chemical reactions, and the effect nozzle shape has on the distance water can be shot.
Based on a curriculum strategically developed by the science teaching team several years ago, students went beyond memorizing facts and procedures for this project-based learning course. They were challenged to collaborate, engage in discourse, utilize driving questions, and use the “knowledge-in-use” perspective, where they learn by applying knowledge to make decisions and solve problems while also evaluating when and how to get more information when necessary.
Students creatively and methodically problem-solved to design a solution to a simple problem. The fire extinguisher project exposes students to real-life experiences in the worlds of science and engineering in order to help them more deeply connect authentically with the material in realistic ways.
Elizabeth Wickham ’27 and Diya Patel ’27 said, „Throughout the Fire Extinguisher project, we encountered numerous obstacles that made us use previous knowledge from class and attempt to apply it to our project. Though it was challenging, it allowed us to put our knowledge to a real-life situation and to test numerous strategies and ideas for the extinguisher. This project was so much fun and it allowed for all of us to take a break from the typical assignments in class and to do something with a more hands-on approach. This project taught us how to embrace and learn from mistakes.“
Two other partners, Chryssa Smith ’27 and Milton Duckworth ’27, faced their own fair share of obstacles. „In the construction of our extinguisher, the one main challenge we faced was getting all the baking soda and vinegar to react as we needed it to for the right amount of product in the form of a gas to put out the fire,“ they shared. „Ultimately, we faced this challenge by creating a slide mechanism that would allow us to make sure all the baking soda and vinegar would fully react. This project helped us build critical thinking skills and quick problem-solving skills. We really enjoyed our time working and are happy with our results.“
What an exciting project to highlight our science students’ creativity and collaboration. Well done, 10th graders!