About Us
ABOUT FUTURE CITY - NC
Through the dedicated hard work and initiative of our Core Steering Committee, Future City - NC got its start in 2001.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Future City is a nationally supported program where students in middle school grades imagine, research, design, and create cities based on an annual theme they envision at least one hundred years in the future. The Future City program teaches 6th, 7th and 8th-grade students problem-solving techniques through hands-on, project- and problem-based learning. Students learn a problem-solving process called the engineering design process (EDP) as they imagine, plan, and create cities of the future. Working as a team, students, along with an educator and an engineering mentor, plan a city using the SimCity™ software. Students create a project plan, including goals, schedules, and reflections. They describe their research and implement solutions to engineering problems via their city essays. They plan and create tabletop scale models of their cities using recycled materials, and present their ideas before judges at the annual Future City - NC Competition. Additional competition highlights include participation in the Specialty Awards contest - a competitive process judged by engineering field experts, and focused on such themes as Best Use of Renewable Energy, Best Indoor Environment, Most Sustainable Environmental Practices, Best Management of Water Resources, and more!
Best of all, the program is FREE for all students attending NC schools, including public schools, home school environments or nationally, regionally or state-recognized youth-focused organizations such as the Boy or Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs and 4-H.
Students need only to be introduced to the question, "How can we make the world a better place?" to find meaningful ways to use what they are learning in other classes - such as math, science, and social studies - and apply this learning to not only to the creation of their Future City, but to everyday problem-solving and thinking. In addition, students learn that the engineering habits of mind as well as the "soft skills" - working with a team, integrating ideas that are not your own or that you may not necessarily like, working with people who may be very different from you in learning style, work style, background, and/or age, and communicating effectively - are just as, if not more important, than the actual project itself!
FOR MENTORS:
Benefits you will appreciate about the program include 1) the project is short-lived - 4 months or less - and can be offered in formal and informal settings; 2) You will receive the respect and awe of students (you might not see it, but it' s there!); 3) You are exposing students to the authentic use of the engineering design process and engineering habits of mind through the expertise you share with the students in their project work; and 4) Best of all-YOU DON' T HAVE TO HAVE SUBJECT-SPECIFIC ENGINEERING EXPERTISE in order to make a difference! For example, if you are an environmental engineer, but the subject of the Future City theme that year is focused on earthquake proof cities, you have expertise to contribute that goes WAY beyond your daily work and degree! Students need to know that the habits of mind of an engineer, as well as the "soft skills"-working with a team, integrating ideas that are not your own or that you may not necessarily like, working with people who may be very different from you in learning style, work style, background, and/or age, and communicating effectively-are just as, if not more important, than the actual project itself! THIS is where you come in, no matter your engineering degree or subject expertise.
Participants complete five deliverables: a virtual city design (using SimCity); a 1,500-word city essay; a scale model built from recycled materials; a project plan, and a presentation to judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the Finals in Washington, DC in February. After completing Future City, student participants are not only prepared to be citizens of today’s complex and technical world, but also poised to become the drivers of tomorrow.
ENGINEERING AND SO MUCH MORE ....
This flexible, cross-curricular educational program gives students an opportunity to do the things that engineers do—identify problems; brainstorm ideas; design solutions; test, retest and build; and share their results. This process is called the engineering design process. With this at its center, Future City is an engaging way to build students’ 21st century skills. Students participating in Future City:
- Apply math and science concepts to real-world issues
- Develop writing, public speaking, problem solving, and time management skills
- Research and propose solutions to engineering challenges
- Discover different types of engineering and explore careers options
- Learn how their communities work and become better citizens
- Develop strong time management and project management skills
AWARD RECOGNITION
Future City is one of the nation’s leading engineering education programs and has received national recognition and acclaim for its role in encouraging middle schoolers to develop their interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).