Registration is now open for educators to sign up for the Future City Experience: Living on the Moon, an abbreviated version of the Future City Competition that introduces students in grades 6, 7, and 8 to the engineering design process.
Launched by Engineers Canada last year, the Future City Experience is designed to introduce students to engineering in the same fun and engaging way as the Future City Competition, but without the commitment of the full competition and with additional support from engineer mentors.
The Future City Experience is entirely virtual and can be adapted to in-class or online learning models. Similar to DiscoverE’s Future City Competition, it asks students to use the engineering design process to imagine, research, design, and build a futuristic lunar city and provide examples of how the city uses two Moon resources to keep its residents safe and healthy.
Working in teams and guided by an educator and a virtual engineer mentor, students build a physical model, or multiple model segments, of their city. Using a provided template, they then submit photos, a video, and brief descriptions of the various aspects of their lunar city to a panel of engineers who will provide them with feedback on their design at the Future City Experience Showcase.
To support educators and students as they become familiar with the Future City program, Engineers Canada has partnered with Engineers of Tomorrow and Ontario Tech University to provide participating classrooms, home schools, and Girl Guide and Scout units with an engineer mentor who will be a great resource for students as they design their future city; a live Q&A in early 2022 where students and educators can hear from engineers about how their work might apply in designing a lunar city; and a range of resources to help guide students in their work.
During the first iteration of the Future City Experience last year, more than 1,500 students and 90 volunteer mentors from across Canada participated. Feedback from educators who participated last year testified to the program’s ability to engage students.
“It’s amazing how involved young people can be when a project is so well organized and interesting,” said one educator from New Brunswick.
An educator from Ontario added that they were blown away by the technical problem-solving of the students. “They figured out how to put all their models into one file, texture it, and are rendering it at a rendering farm like a bunch of pros!”
If you are an educator, or a Girl Guide or Scout leader, and you’d like to participate in the Future City Experience, register today on Engineers Canada’s Explore Engineering website. Register by January 28, 2022 if you would like to be paired with an engineering mentor.
