Final Product: A compost bin commissioned by a client in the local community, designed to fulfill their specific needs.

Key Academic Skills and Content:

• Developing and Using Models:  Students can use and construct models as helpful tools for representing ideas and explanations. These tools include diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, mathematical representations, analogies, and computer simulations. Develop, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
• Constructing Explanations and Designing solutions: Students can apply scientific ideas, principles, and evidence to provide an explanation to a problem. Students can design, evaluate, and refine a solution to a complex real-world problem, based on scientific knowledge, and sources of evidence. Each proposed solution results from a process of balancing competing criteria of desired functions, technical feasibility, cost, safety, aesthetics, and compliance with legal requirements. The optimal choice depends on how well the proposed solutions meet criteria and constraints.

Suggested Duration: eight weeks

Created with the support of the California Department of Education California Career Pathways Trust