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AQUAPONICS AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING
FOR SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS
Mountain View High School
Instruction in water, agriculture, weather, solar, wind, and geothermal
energy have supplemented the more usual and conventional high
school curriculum. Opportunities for students to get their hands dirty
through activities has fed the imagination of many and revealed col-
lege and career opportunities that perhaps had never been consid-
ered. Students research, build, and maintain multiple systems on
campus. This hands-on instructional program prepares individuals for
enrollment in college and/or employment in industry by providing ex-
ploratory experiences and laboratory activities related to the curricu-
lum. Instructional experiences include construction and use of vari-
ous equipment in the aquaponics systems, weather and solar power
systems. As part of the science curriculum, students raise fish, fruits,
vegetables and flowers using aquaponics and raised bed gardening.
Over the past three years MVHS has shown positive benefits from
the addition of the sustainability program. Student connectedness to
school has been the most significant success. As our students have
more of a purpose to be at school, their credit production, attend-
ance, behavior, A-G rate, dropout rate and graduation rates have all
been positively affected, along with a reduction in suspension rates.
Sustainability Projects
Aquaponics
Weather Station
Solar & Wind Power
Bicycle Power
Raised Bed Gardening
Hydroponics
Geothermal Energy
Hydroelectric Power
All projects are student built including this aquaponics bed that will hold plants and water.
SJUSD and MVHS have partnered with the following local community
businesses: Green Coalition, Aquaponics for Life, The Riverside and
San Bernardino County Farm Bureaus, EMWD, Lowes and Star Milling.
Aquaponics
Currently, MVHS/MHA provides both organic raised bed farm-ing and aquaponics for student participation. At MVHS/MHA we have both indoor and outdoor aquaponics centers where students care for the aquatic animals, test the water with com-mercial water chemistry methods, and ensure that there is a proper balance between bacteria and nutrients in the wa-ter. Students learn plant classification, measure light with illu-minance light meters, chart the light spectrum as well as the plant growth, water PH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrate levels and air temperature, daily. Students learn the value of becoming self sustainable and the many benefits of this farming technique.
Aquaponics Tours
Students and staff give Aquaponics tours to elementary school students, community members, educational leaders and nation-al affiliates, such as the Americorps members; teaching how to create, build and maintain systems. Students love giving these tours and the pride they have for their creations really shines through.
Beneficial bacteria in the
Aquaponics System con-
vert ammonia into nitrites
and then nitrates. These
naturally occurring bacteria
grow really well and help
the plants grow.
In regular fish tanks, weekly
water changes are needed
as nitrates build up and be-
come toxic to your fish. In
an aquaponics system,
however, plants uptake ni-
trates as the nutrients they
need to grow and filter the
water for your fish.
Aquaponics System in the Library
Daily chemical analysis of the water
checked by s
Student led field-trips—Teaching the art of aquaponics
Solar Power
Students and staff will be
installing solar panels in
two locations to power the
pumps in the aquaponics
outdoor systems.
Currently, students are
putting together solar
powered vehicles. This is
a fun way for students to
learn about Solar power
before installing the large
panels.
Solar Panels will be installed in two areas powering pumps, heaters, and filters
Solar powered vehicle
Wind Power Students will be mounting the wind generator on the tool shed to power the pumps to the aquaponics systems in the outdoor area. Students have created their own wind-mills from kits, learning how this wind power works to generate power on a small and large scale.
Weather Station
MVHS/MHA has implemented a fully functional wireless weather sta-tion that feeds to a computer which collects and collates data. A staff and community member writes a daily weather report for the website, www.sanjacintoweather.com used by thousands of community mem-bers daily. Currently, the weather report is announced at school every day, which is critical for the students involved in the Outdoor Sustaina-bility Program. A meteorology club and Weather Watchers Blog for MVHS/MHA students who want to learn about weather patterns and create their own forecasts along with writing weather reports for the community is in progress.
MVHS Wireless Weather Station
Raised Bed Gardening In raised bed gardening students can compare traditional gardening vs
aquaponics vs hydroponics. Students may plant the same seeds in all
three mediums and record the plant growth to see which plant grows
the best. Students can also determine if one tastes better or has a high-
er nutritional value.
Geothermal Energy Tubs are submerged in the ground, using geother-
mal energy to keep the water and fish warm in the
winter and cool in the summer.
Bicycle Power Students love to race on the bicycle to see who
can generate more power. Who can ride long
enough to power a Cell Phone?
Contact Us
1000 N. Ramona Blvd.
San Jacinto, CA 92582
(951) 487-7710
Ken Swanson
Denise Leonard
Visit us on the web at
mvhs.sanjacinto.k12.ca.us
Follow us on Twitter @MVHSWarriors1 @deniseleonard
Link to Presentation:
http://bit.ly/2wFtWrd
