PBL Curriculum Design Lab - SNOWPACK SERIES - Net Zero Future

Water we innovating? A net zero water future is possible. It means that we learn how to rejoin nature's water cycle even as we interrupt it with our buildings, industries, farms, and personal needs to use what we receive in a 12-month period and give it back to nature as clean as we got it. How did the Bullitt Center, a six story office space in Seattle become a net zero water building? How does Valley View Middle School in Snohomish harvest all the rainwater on its rooftop to flush its toilets and irrigate its campus? How did the tiny island nation of Singapore leap from a developing country to the world’s most advanced water cycling society, capturing all of its rainwater, recycling all of its wastewater, and desalinating the seawater that surrounds it?

Can we engineer our homes, apartments, and schools to achieve net zero water so that over the course of one year we consume only what our regional “precipitation budget” allows?

Lab participants will explore a range of excellent lesson frameworks, phenomena, and local “living textbook” resources, the same policies, plans, and performance measures that water resource managers, engineers, innovators, and policymakers use every day to guide their work.  Together, we will practice the Impact Project Design process which empowers students to think like a project manager and develop solutions that are directly aligned with local water resource management goals. We keep it real, local, and relevant, supporting student agency and ownership at the household, school, or neighborhood scale. There are numerous entry points for science, engineering, math, social studies and common core. Bring a team! This Lab is an ongoing practicum that convenes teachers, student leaders, and subject matter experts from industry, government, and nonprofit sectors to ensure a rich learning exchange.