EAHS students showcase projects on Capitol Hill
By Heather Ruenz
Editor
In mid-March, students from Elkhorn Area High School were among a small group of students selected to visit Washington D.C. to showcase STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects and inventions, and stand as examples of what STEM education empowers students to accomplish.
The Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) -– the nation’s largest educational association – hosted some of the nation’s most impressive STEM students from just seven schools. Each school’s STEM curriculum is provided by Project Lead The Way, used by more than 9,000 other schools in the U.S.
Senate Co-Chairs of the ACTE – Senators Tim Kaine, Rob Portman, Todd Young, and Tammy Baldwin – attended, in addition to PLTW’s Government Relations Director, Ed Dennis. The showcase took place on Capitol Hill.
Two of the Elkhorn Area High School students that attended – Matthew Engelbrecht and Jack Flitcroft – presented a hydrogen fuel cell design.
The initial goal of their project was to power a drone using a hydrogen fuel cell.
To create the energy, hydrogen gas and oxygen are used to create electricity through an electrolyzer, which, using electrolysis, splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.
“You can store the hydrogen. With a hydrogen fuel cell, it’s 85 percent efficiency so it’s 85 percent of the energy out that you put into it,” Flitcroft said.
In comparison to a lithium cell battery, the hydrogen fuel cell “is better because it hold the energy indefinitely,” Engelbrecht added.
Flitcroft said they’re attempting the independent project to engineer a 3-D printed hydrogen fuel cell so they’re more available.
Hydrogen fuel cells are also very environmentally friendly, they said.
“It’s also safe if it were to explode because the hydrogen won’t hurt anything. It will just go into the air,” Engelbrecht said.
Flitcroft said the electrolyzer also makes oxygen, “which, on a massive scale, would replenish the ozone layer. It doesn’t produce anything that would heat up the earth, only water and hydrogen… and both are safe.”
The STEM class the two students are working on the project in is Engineering Design and Development, the capstone engineering class at the high school.
“We chose a problem with the world, which is lithium batteries, looked at alternative fuel sources and found hydrogen,” Flitcroft said.
The element for the project explores ways to do the project and how each compares against the others, including a list of criteria.
“We had to research how hydrogen energy works but couldn’t find a way to build it,” Engelbrecht said. Our teachers had also asked us to read about hydrogen gas detection (check https://nevadanano.com/hydrogen-gas-detection/) and it has certainly helped us gain more knowledge for our research.
“We went with 3-D printing because anyone can access how to build the fuel cell, and 3-D printers are very cheap now, about $300,” Flitcroft added.
The membrane exchange assembly, where the chemical reaction occurs, can’t be 3-D printed, but can be ordered while the rest of it can be created using a 3-D printer and the entire device can be assembled in less than 15 minutes, he said.
The two students are not only enthused about their project, but also the future implications of hydrogen energy.
“Right now, the average citizen doesn’t know the benefits of it. I can see a house using one of these on a larger scale and using very little energy to power their home 24 hours a day,” Flitcroft explained.
California, he said, has implemented a program to build 20 hydrogen fuel stations that will serve just as gas stations do now, but for hydrogen fuel-run vehicles.
“Some day homes will be completely powered by hydrogen and people will be able to fill up their cars at home,” Flitcroft added.
Their idea on how to sell hydrogen, in gas and liquid forms, is a carbon dioxide canister, Engelbrecht said.
And powering the drone, which started this entire project?
“We’ll still test it to make sure it’ll generate enough power to lift the drone off the ground, something currently only lithium, a motor or a lead acid battery can do,” Flitcroft said.
Concussion PSA
The other three EAHS students to attend the STEM showcase in Washington D.C. were: Julia Los, Allison Schopf and Sarah Rychlak. They presented a public service announcement on concussions.
Deanna Brunlinger, who teaches Advanced Placement Biology at EAHS as well as Principles of Biomedical Sciences – part of the STEM curriculum – accompanied the students on the trip.
Brulinger said Los, Schopf and Rychlak brought a swim cap with the parts of the brain mapped out.
“It was put it on a Styrofoam head and they explained what each part was responsible for in relation to concussions and other parts of the brain,” Brunlinger explained. “They also brought a preserved sheep brain for comparison. Many parts in the human brain are reduced in size or absent in the sheep brain.”
The three-day trip to Washington D.C. also allowed some time for sightseeing for the group, including visits to the National Zoo, the Smithsonian, the National Officer Memorial Wall, the National Art Museum, the Holocaust Museum and the Air and Space Museum.
Sun protection tested
Currently at EAHS, a group of students is doing an experiment with genetically modified (GM) yeast and its sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation.
”First, students did a control trial exposing regular (wild-type) yeast and the genetically modified yeast to UV radiation and confirming that the GM yeast would die when exposed to UV radiation and live when not exposed,” Brunlinger explained.
From there, the students designed their own experiment with the goal to keep the yeast alive using sunscreen, make-up and lip balms – all with an SPF – and filtering red and blue wavelengths of light.
“We found red light protected them better than blue, but not much better, and in both cases there was little growth. SPF 50 didn’t work as well as 70 or 100, but 70 worked better than 100,” Brunlinger said.
“The cheaper make-up (Revlon) with an SPF worked better than the more expensive Neutrogena. Expired SPF 50 didn’t work as well as newer SPF 50. Lotion SPF 50 worked better than spray-on SPF 50. Sunscreen SPF 15 worked better than make-up with SPF 15,” she added.
Engaging students
Project Lead The Way, a STEM curriculum provider, trains teachers for the specialized courses. Elkhorn Area School District has offered PLTW courses at the elementary and middle schools for three years. Launch is for students through fifth grade and Gateway for students in sixth through eighth grades.
Since 2008, EAHS has offered all three of PLTW’s high school pathways – biomedical science, computer science and engineering. Students are not restricted to choosing one pathway and many combine the different disciplines to their interests.
The organization’s computer science pathway “engages students in interdisciplinary activities that not only build knowledge and skills in computer science, but also empower students to develop essential skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and perseverance. The program’ s courses empowers students with in-demand knowledge and skills they will use in high school and for the rest of their lives, on any career path they choose,” according to the PLTW website.
“From launching space explorations to delivering safe, clean water to communities, engineers find solutions to pressing problems and turn their ideas into reality,” the site states regarding the engineering pathway. It “empowers students to step into the role of an engineer, adopt a problem-solving mindset, and make the leap from dreamers to doers. The program’ s courses engage students in compelling, real-world challenges that help them become better collaborators and thinkers.”
From discovering new cancer treatments to teaching healthy lifestyle choices to their communities, today’s biomedical science professionals are tackling big challenges to make the world a better place, the website states. PLTW’s biomedical science students “are taking on these same real-world challenges – and they’re doing it before they even graduate from high school. Working with the same tools used by professionals in hospitals and labs, students engage in compelling, hands-on activities and work together to find solutions to problems.”
PLTW’s mission is to “Empower students to thrive in an evolving world” through “a transformative learning experience for K-12 students and teachers across the U.S.” The organization provides “an engaging classroom environment unlike any other. PLTW empowers students to develop and apply in-demand, transportable skills by exploring real-world challenges. Through our pathways in computer science, engineering, and biomedical science, students not only learn technical skills, but also learn to solve problems, think critically and creatively, communicate, and collaborate. We also provide teachers with the training, resources, and support they need to engage students in real-world learning,” according to its website.
For more information about Project Lead The Way, visit www.pltw.org.
