No one can accuse Kimberly Novak of Madison High School of not being a friend to the environment.  As a matter of fact, she has taken being green to a whole new level and is providing a unique learning situation for her students.  Kimberly sought funding from a variety of community sources and grants and her own pocketbook to build a small house on school property.  Supporting sponsors include Weaverville Lowes, Asheville Build it Naturally, Donor's Choose Grants, CTE grants, Asheville Chamber Innovative Teacher Grant, and Sergeant King.

About the size of an outbuilding, this small house has unique green construction features and experimental areas. The students taking classes in Construction poured the concrete pad and put together the building. Some of the ROTC students helped with the cutting and placing of the bamboo flooring & guttering for the rain barrel. The Metals instructor put in the solar panel and wind turbine, and the Advanced Art class created the mural for the side-wall of the building. Kimberly graciously says, “I was mostly the facilitator, not the 'doer'.” 

Students can investigate the quality and economic viability of a variety of green building materials.  For example, students can compare which insulation type works best, which products provide lower health risks and how installation of the products can affect the performance of those products.   During the investigations more questions naturally arise:  How much do the green building products cost? Is that a better deal (economically) if you save money on energy costs over the long term?  How can you put a value on the cost impact to the environment of a less "green" product?  Students learn that you can have quality products that are less harmful to your health without having to sacrifice beauty. 

There are several other aspects of the "green" house that invite students to explore sustainability other than its unique construction.  The roof garden beckons students to come closer and investigate.  Students can study why having plants on roofs might be a great thing for our atmosphere, water conservation and urban hot-spots.  They can do their own inquiry investigations about which plants are best for roof gardening (which filter best, which are most viable for the mountain area, etc.).  The rain barrel, wind turbine, solar panels, and other learning sites around the "green" house provide real-world examples of sustainability in action.

During the S3: Sustained STEM Support meetings with Michelle Benigno (Mountain Outreach Coordinator of The Science House), 6-12 science teachers across the county were introduced to Kimberly's project.  Learning and sharing about sustainability can now take place system wide.    All these inquiry opportunities are open for other teachers in the system to tap into. Teachers can share data on similar experiments, visit the house to do their own investigations, or share student podcasts about the learning sites. Kimberly is also teaming with other teachers to use the building for a variety of interdisciplinary lessons.

This collaborative project will hopefully continue to evolve with additional community support, help from The Science House and teacher-leaders that want to change the world.

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