On Friday, March 15th, 60 middle school students from the Joyce Kilmer Upper School came for a field trip to Northeastern. The students spent the day learning about the environment, and what engineers can do to prevent the pollution of the environment and how water can be cleaned post-pollution. First, the students learned about engineering and how engineers solve problems using the engineering design process. Next, the students followed the story of how the Charles River has been polluted over time, seeing how individuals and companies have harmed the river. Using this polluted water, the students designed water filters to clean the water, using a variety of materials, such as sand, gravel, cotton balls, and polyester cotton (old t-shirts).
- Carlin and Michael teach about the Charles River and pollution
- NU Volunteers begin the filtration process
- The three cleanest water filters, post-filtering
After lunch, the students went on a combined College 101/Campus Tour, in which students explored campus and asked their tour guides (NU student volunteers) questions about campus, STEM, college, or anything else.
- Visiting students explore campus
- Students hang out with Shillman and his cat