EVERETT — The Snohomish County PUD is giving a boost to budding young scientists and engineers with grants worth a total of $6,222 to 13 local public schools.
The Public Utility District awarded up to $500 to each school to pay for classroom projects in the current school year.
The schools include four in the Edmonds School District, three in Mukilteo, two in Everett, two in Lake Stevens, one in Marysville and one in Monroe.
Students at Brier Elementary will build solar cars to learn about engineering and energy production. Teacher Shannon Gonsalves applied for the award.
Fourth graders at Edmonds Elementary will learn about and build electrical circuits. They will also learn about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Teachers Christy Diefendorf and Karyn Heinekin applied for the grant.
Teacher Anna Walter at Martha Lake Elementary plans to use the award money to help her fourth grade students build models of working wind turbines. They will also design and conduct experiments with electrical circuits.
At Meadowdale Middle School, Diana Browne plans to use the PUD grant to help her students in the seventh and eighth grades learn about transforming power into energy and moving it. They will be able to work with a water turbine model to learn about hydropower generation, the biggest source of electricity in the Pacific Northwest.
In Everett, Penny Creek Elementary teacher Deb Strong plans to use the money to help teach her students about transferring and transforming energy. She also plans to have her fourth- and fifth-graders build Rube Goldberg machines to learn about the engineering process.
At View Ridge Elementary, Richelle Shively plans to use the award for experiments using solar energy through an after-school STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) club, which is open to students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Teacher Patrick Walker at Highland Elementary aims to use the grant to help fifth grade students learn about generating and using solar energy. A solar cell on the school’s roof will turn sunlight into electricity, which students will use to power everyday devices.
Students at Hillcrest Elementary will work with teacher Darlene Moe to learn about energy can be wasted and how to conserve energy.
In Marysville, fifth graders at Pinewood Elementary will learn how energy systems work by building working models. Teacher Suzette Nielson applied for the grant.
At Maltby Elementary, teacher Michelle Riske plans to use the award to help kids learn about solar energy. Fifth grade students will also build solar-powered cars.
At Discovery Elementary in the Mukilteo School District, fourth graders will be able to build solar-powered devices and compare solar energy to other energy sources. Teacher Laurie James applied for the award.
At Explorer Middle School, teachers Laurel Nyquist and Lori Warnock plan to use the PUD grant to teach eighth graders about electricity and engineering. They plan to have students conduct several inquiry-based investigations, and then, use what they learn to help design a Rube Goldberg machine capable of turning off a light.
Voyager Middle School’s David Watt plans to have his eighth-grade students learn about hydropower with a trip to the PUD’s Woods Creek Hydroelectric Project.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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