• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tech Savvy Mama

Parenting in the Digital Age

  • About
    • Affiliations & Honors
    • Contributors
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
  • Technology
    • YouTube
    • Social Media
  • Lifestyle
    • Parenting
    • Travel
    • Safety
  • Education
  • Causes
  • Gift Guides
  • CONTACT
    • Work with Me

Future City Competition Encourages Middle Schoolers to Use STEM to Solve Real World Problems

February 17, 2016 By Leticia

Future City Competition Encourages Middle Schoolers to Use STEM to Solve Real World Problems

This is a sponsored post

With research showing that girls start losing interest in math and science during middle school, motivating this key age group to use their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math isn’t hard when they’re asked to use their skills to solve a real world challenge. This is the premise behind the Future City competition, a program that serves over 40,000 middle school students throughout the United States and around the world.

This year’s theme of Waste Not, Want Not required students to create Green Cities of the future. For this competition, middle school students were required to apply their engineering, design, and project management skills to a real world problem as they conceptualized and designed cities of the future. The four-month long process included research, design, solving an issue for their city, and building a scale model which was presented to a panel of judges at the finals that were held in Washington, D.C. over this past weekend.

Reasons to Get Involved in Future City

The Future City Competition has been proven to be an effective way for middle schoolers to use math and science to real world problems, discover different aspects of engineering, and become more informed citizens by learning how their communities work.

Future City finalists. Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

                         Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

Take a look at some of the impressive outcomes of the program:

  • 92% of educators reported that students learned how to apply math and science to real world problems
  • 84% of students reported that Future City helped them see math and science as important to their future
  • 65% of students said they could see themselves becoming engineers after their involvement in Future City
  • 61% wanted to pursue more engineering activities or clubs thanks to Future City
  • 90% reported that Future City helped them appreciate all of the engineering that goes into a city
  • 63% said they were more aware of civics issues like politics and taxes because of Future City

Teachers, mentors, and parents also reported a huge improvement in participants’ 21 century skills such as teamwork, public speaking, project management, working independently, writing and research, and problem solving abilities.

Education

How to Get Involved in Future City

Future City is a highly effective method of using problem based learning to motivate middle schoolers towards STEM subjects and one that is accessible to every student including the exceptional child, gifted and talented, girls, minority students, and low income students.

Future City 2016. Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

   Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

There’s tons of information about getting started on the Future City website but here’s what you need to know:

  • The cost to participate is only $25 per team. A team can be 1-100 people but are often 3-30 students. The cost of registering provides a team with SimCity software, online trainings, a program handbook, eligibility for completions and prizes, and a STEM mentor who serves as the team advisor.
  • Creativity, hard work, and dedication are emphasized and teams are limited to a budget of $100 for materials for their City Model and highly encouraged to use recycled materials.
  • A helpful planning timeline lets students take control of the project management by laying out the work that should be done each month over the four months of the competition
  • There is also a section about competition deliverables that inform teams about the documentation they need to provide through the engineering design process as they showcase their city of the future. Teams are judged and scored on all the deliverables.
Future City Competition 2016. Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

                              Photo courtesy of Thien-Kim Lam of ImNotTheNanny.com

For more information about Future City, visit their website, Facebook page, or sign up for the DiscoverE mailing list to stay informed about Future City and other programs and resources that engage students in engineering.

Future City is a DiscoverE program. The mission of DiscoverE is to sustain and grow a dynamic engineering profession through outreach, education, celebration and volunteerism. DiscoverE supports a network of thousands of volunteers in its partner coalition of more than 100 professional societies, major corporations and government agencies. Together we meet a vital need: introducing students, parents, and educators to engineering, engaging them in hands-on engineering experiences and making science and math relevant. For more information, visit www.discovere.org. 

 

Related

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: DiscoverE, engineering competition, Future City, middle school, STEM, tweens

Previous Post: « Important Conversations to Have with Kids About Managing Their Digital Reputations
Next Post: Happy 1st Birthday #YouTubeKids! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carla says

    February 17, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    This is so important and so very much on my radar with my own daughter starting middle school soon. I am sharing sharing sharing 🙂

  2. Kerri says

    February 17, 2016 at 7:42 pm

    As an educator and a mom of three girls, I am very interested in Future City. I definitely have to look more into this.

  3. Maria Colaco says

    February 18, 2016 at 12:08 am

    Thanks so much for sharing this. I have an 11year old who would love to hear about this!

  4. Melissa says

    February 18, 2016 at 12:27 am

    Can’t think of a better way to help girls get exited about STEM

  5. Misti says

    February 18, 2016 at 11:58 am

    A bit over my head but I understand its importance!

  6. reesa says

    February 18, 2016 at 11:19 pm

    I love that this is for middle schoolers, when so many kids move away from STEM.

Primary Sidebar

about sidebar pic_profile pic

Hi! I'm Leticia, founder of Tech Savvy Mama! I'm an award-winning blogger, Washington, DC area mom of teens, middle school computer science teacher, and education consultant.  Read more...

TechSavvyMama logo board_sidebar divider

AFFILIATIONS & HONORS

_YouTube Parent Panel

_top50momblogger

TechSavvyMama logo board_sidebar divider

Subscribe

Never Miss a Post!
Name: 
Your email address:*
Consent*
Yes, I consent to being emailed
No, I do not want to be emailed
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
No spam, ever. Promise!

Tech Savvy Mama on YouTube

<<< View More >>>

TechSavvyMama logo board_sidebar divider

INSTAGRAMMIN’

techsavvymama

DC area blogger & middle school computer science teacher focused on edu, family tech & teens. ❤s= 🚀 #STEM 🏃 #StJudeHeroes #legacyteamnuun 🏝 #Haiti

It was such a joy to be able to celebrate this mil It was such a joy to be able to celebrate this milestone! 🎉 Huge congratulations to Thomas and the Class of 2024! 🎓 #classof2024 #graduation
Happy Global Running Day! 🏃🏻‍♀️If you Happy Global Running Day! 🏃🏻‍♀️If you know me, you know you can always find me in Memphis running a race the first weekend in December for @stjude . I ❤️love ❤️ love ❤️ love ❤️this race because the race course is pretty flat, the weather is amazing, and the whole city of Memphis comes to cheer you on, you get to run through the St. Jude campus which is always inspiring, and it is just SO fun! 🎉 If you’ve ever thought of running a 5K, 10k, half, or full marathon, I invite you to register! Sign up to join me to run/walk/run+walk any distance and not only will I cheer you on as you get race ready but I will be your Marathon Weekend buddy. 🙌🏼 I promise to help get you race ready, will take you to all the best places in Memphis before the race, and to celebrate after with post-race drinks at the Peabody Hotel. 🍹Who is going to join me? Link to register in the first comment! 🏃🏻‍♀️ #stjudeheroes #globalrunningday #memphis #stjude #stjudedmv
The best part of @solairesocial is the incredible The best part of @solairesocial is the incredible variety of delicious food available in one place! 🎉 Our family of adventurous eaters has been anxiously awaiting the opening of this culinary collective and our first visit did not disappoint! 💕 Here’s a look at the diverse food concepts that @chefakhtar has carefully curated to be part of the Solaire Social culinary experience. 👀 Huge thanks to Solaire Social for inviting us to their influencer preview to enjoy the amazing culinary cultural concepts that we’re happy to have right in our backyard! I know the hardest part about our next visit will be choosing among all the incredible food at these 8 amazing restaurants! 🍽️ 

#SolaireSocial #SilverSpring #silverspringmd #montgomerycountymd #dmvfoodie #fifteensecondsofsummer
Chincoteague = Our island in the sun ☀️ Until Chincoteague = Our island in the sun ☀️ Until next time! 💕 more than #fifteensecondsofsummer #chincoteague #assateague #loveva #islandlife
The best way to start any day in Chincoteague is a The best way to start any day in Chincoteague is at @amarin_coffee_usa ! Their fresh baked buttery croissants (that are almost as big as your head!) are always such a treat when we’re here! 🥐❤️🥐 #fifteensecondsofsummer #chincoteague #civa #esva #coffeelovers
Fifteen seconds of sunset for #fifteensecondsofsum Fifteen seconds of sunset for #fifteensecondsofsummer ! 🌅 #chincoteague #loveva #esva #sunsetlovers
Is it officially summer for your family? It is for Is it officially summer for your family? It is for ours! ☀️Thomas finished his last day of high school and Emily is home from college for a bit so it’s summer in our house. 🙌🏼 We kicked off our summer at a @nationals game that included a win with 3 home runs! ⚾️ This year I’m joining @lashawnwiltz in 15 seconds of summer, sharing 15 seconds from my days so at the end, I can look back and remember the great things we did as a family before Thomas heads to college in the fall. 😢 Join in the fun by recording and sharing 15 seconds of your summer days and use the hashtag #fifteensecondsofsummer. It officially starts June 1 but join in whenever your summer begins! 🕶️🍉⛱️ #washingtondc #washingtonnationals #nats #baseball #summer
Today we’re celebrating National Rescue Dog Day Today we’re celebrating National Rescue Dog Day because we’re so glad Goldie and Murphy are part of our family! 🐶 We gave Goldie her forever home when she was 6 months old. She had been given up by her original family because she was just too much for them. She was an enthusiastic pup who loved to jump straight up in the air when she got excited and she used to hop the fence in the mornings to go visit her best dog friend, Katy, over our back fence. She still jumps from standing when she sees a deer, meets a favorite dog friend, or gets a visit from @lisatasch but now at age 5, she’s more calm and forever faithful. 🦮We met Murphy and his 9 brothers and sisters just days after he was born although we didn’t know he would be the puppy we’d claim as ours. Murphy has that puppy energy but in his quiet moments is a total love bug. He hogs the free space in our king bed (he even has his own pillow!) and loves nothing more than to press his body into me or lie directly on me. 🐾 Goldie and Murphy came to us through @labrescuelrcp and we couldn’t be happier that they’re part of our family! ❤️ #rescuedogday #labrescue #labrador #adoptdontshop
After 3 days at St. Jude Children’s Research Hos After 3 days at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, I’m leaving Memphis so very grateful to be able to support St. Jude’s mission of working to end childhood cancer. ❤️ Spending time connecting, brainstorming, and absorbing the wisdom of fellow Hero Ambassadors from around the country was inspiring because the work we do fundraising through our endurance events helps St. Jude do the incredible work they do to ensure families never receive a bill for their child’s treatment, housing, travel, or food and continue important research that will continue to reduce rates of pediatric cancer and other childhood diseases. I am so looking forward to running in Memphis again this December! 🎉 If you’ve ever thought of running a race that does so much good in the world, join me! I’d love to have you come to Memphis and run with me! Or you can always donate through the fundraising link in my bio. ❤️ #stjude #stjudeheroes #memphis #stjudedmv
Prom 2024! ❤️ #prom #classof2024 #senioryear # Prom 2024! ❤️ #prom #classof2024 #senioryear #lastfridaynight #latergram
When we bought our house 24 years ago, it came wit When we bought our house 24 years ago, it came with many things we didn’t love like rotted porch boards, 1 bathroom, and peeling paint (inside and out!) but it also came with things we did love like old, mature trees, crazy shaped boxwood bushes, and these spectacular peonies! 🌸 Every year when they bloom I’m so glad that these beauties conveyed with the purchase of our house and I’m glad we rebuilt our porch so we can step out our front door to admire them in their glory! 🩷#peonies #peonyseason #garden #blooms #spring
As a teacher and parent, I am well aware of the me As a teacher and parent, I am well aware of the mental health challenges our youth face and am really pleased to share that over the weekend I became certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing! 🎉 I’ve always worked to build relationships with the young people in my life- whether my kids’ friends or students- and this certification has made me more mindful of the signs and symptoms of mental health challenges so I can have important and supportive conversations when symptoms first start to appear. 🗣️A big component of the training also included developing a self-care plan which is critical when supporting others. 💕 I’m so grateful to have taken this certification for free through the University of Maryland whose blended learning format (2 hours of self paced online work + 5 hour instructor led class over Zoom) was fantastic! 💻 The teacher in me really applauds the course design and I’m glad to join the 3 million+ in the U.S. certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid. 🏥 If this is something you’re interested in doing, University of Maryland has free courses on Saturdays or Sundays from 10-4pm between June-October. Swipe ⬅️ for more information, including a QR code with more information and a survey to take as part of the sign up process. And if you have any questions- leave a comment or DM me. I’m happy to help you get certified too! ❤️ #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthfirstaid #youthmentalhealth #mentalhealthawarenessmonth
Follow on Instagram

TechSavvyMama logo board_sidebar divider

SAVVY FINDS

Footer

Tech Savvy Businesswoman

Check me out across my social media channels for examples of how I can help amplify your company's brand, product, or cause!

_YouTube Parent Panel

techsavvymamasquarelogo_techsavvymama square logo

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Looking for Something?

Search by category…

or by date

DISCLOSURE POLICY

Copyright © 2025 Tech Savvy Mama · Designed by Hustle & Sway · Log in

 

Loading Comments...