(Required: 2x sessions per week, minimum)

Did you know that aquaponics is a water-based gardening system that converts fish waste into plant food?

We are building an aquaponics system

This educational block of teaches young engineers how to build a brand new aquaponics system from scratch with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design, and Mathematics)

We'll use hungry guppies in an aquarium to to feed veggies, herbs, microgreens, and flowers the nutrients they need to grow at 2-3 times the speed that plants would grow in a typical garden!

This educational block is based on our summer camp series, where our students produced a functional prototype (based on fixing problems a master system) in the first week. Students will design and draft concepts to solve problems in an existing "master system", hashing out new solutions. As we learn to leverage new techniques, we will also learn the history of agriculture and irrigation systems around the world, as well as one of the first aquaponics systems every designed...one that is still useful today.

The solutions generated will leverage materials like PCL (polycaprolactone), kid-safe biodegradeable plastic that has a lower melting temperature but is super tough! Using PCL, children will be learning how to prototype their own designs, create (and repair) watertight containers for the plants, figure out how to engineer a pumping system, care for the fish and plants, and see how all these ideas relate to the world around us. Some of them might even be automated mechanically, making decisions without using digital computers!

Materials are included in the price.

(Note: This is a non-repetitive program which consistently presents new challenges and exciting ideas. Students will be given challenges that match their age and skills)