Getting Started
The Build It Green unit is a 6-week storyline that empowers students to design energy-efficient buildings through hands-on engineering and systems thinking. Anchored in three case studies of green school buildings, the unit blends classroom experiences and interactive digital learning tools. Throughout lessons and interactives, learners are encouraged to engage in systems thinking, linking natural and social systems. Students ask questions about how energy systems work in green school buildings. This inquiry is also grounded in their own school building, where they investigate energy inputs, use, and outputs - all while considering the balance of human needs and human impacts on the environment. Throughout the journey, students engage in hands-on activities while working with readings, media, and digital interactives to learn about energy-efficient design.
The unit culminates in the Green Building Design Studio, an interactive simulation where students design and test their energy-efficient classroom concepts. Students can translate their final designs into physical models or digital presentations to share with classmates and broader audiences, demonstrating their mastery of sustainable design principles.
NGSS Standards Alignment
Middle School
Performance | Expectations | Extent Developed |
|---|---|---|
MS-ETS1-1 | Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. | Meeting |
MS-ETS1-3 | Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success. | Meeting |
MS-ETS1-4 | Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved. | Meeting |
MS-ESS3-3 | Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. | Building towards |
MS-PS3-3 | Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer. | Building towards |
MS-PS4-2 | Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials. | Building towards |
4-PS3-2 | Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents. | Reinforcing from Grades 3-5 |
High School
Performance | Expectations | Extent Developed |
|---|---|---|
HS-PS3-1 | Create a computational model to calculate the change in the energy of one component in a system when the change in energy of the other component(s) and energy flows in and out of the system are known. | Meets |
HS-PS3-3 | Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy. | Meets |
HS-ESS3-4 | Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems. | Meets |
Copyright © 2026 The Curators of the University of Missouri in collaboration with Colorado State University, BSCS Science Learning, and Oregon Public Broadcasting.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (Award No 2201204). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.