Registration is now open for educators to sign up for the Future City Experience: A Waste-Free Future, 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 in 2021, the Future City Experience is designed to introduce students to engineering in the same fun and engaging way as DiscoverE’s Future City Competition, but without the commitment of the full competition and with additional support from engineering mentors.
The Future City Experience is entirely virtual and can be adapted to in-class or online learning models. Students are asked to use the engineering design process to imagine, research, design, and build a futuristic waste-free city using the principles of the circular economy.
Working in teams and guided by an educator and a virtual engineering mentor, students will build a physical model, or multiple model segments, of their city. Using a provided template, they will then submit photos and brief descriptions of the various aspects of their waste-free city while presenting live via Zoom to a panel of engineers who will provide them with feedback on their design at the Future City Experience Showcase in May 2023.
To support educators and students as they become familiar with Future City, 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 engineering mentor who will be a great resource for students as they design their future city. Engineers Canada will host a live Q&A in early 2023 where students and educators can hear from engineers about how their work might apply in designing a waste-free city. Engineers Canada also provides a range of resources to help guide students in their work.
Since the first iteration of the Future City Experience in 2021, more than 4,100 students and 200 volunteer mentors from across Canada have participated. Feedback from educators who participated last year testified to the program’s ability to engage students. One hundred per cent of teachers reported that the program encouraged students to apply math and science to real-world problems, and teachers reported that 85 per cent of students had a deeper understanding of engineering after completing the program.
“As a first time participant, I wasn't sure how my students would respond to this project,” one teacher said. “But I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of teamwork, collaboration, creativity, effort and fun they demonstrated. A very worthwhile, real life STEAM project and experience!”
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 27, 2023 if you would like to be paired with an engineering mentor.
Engineers, engineers-in-training, or engineering students wishing to be an engineering mentor to classrooms participating in this year’s Future City Experience can find more information and apply on the Explore Engineering website.
The Future City Experience is an adaptation of DiscoverE’s Future City Competition. Engineers Canada brought the Future City Competition to Canada in 2016 and launched the Future City Experience in 2021 with the generous support of NSERC’s PromoScience program.
