Above: A video detailing the history of various educational model design projects.
In 2019 students from the Green Initiative and the Renaissance Engineers worked to build interactive models that could help teach youth about the benefits of green roofs. Two sets of models were built, one from repurposed milk cartons, and another set made from glass aquaria. Each set has one model that represents a green roof and one that mimics a traditional shingled rooftop. The models are intended to help explain how green roofs can impact water run-off.
Later, for her senior design project in the Mechanical Engineering program, Rachel Modzelewski and her team designed a rooftop model that would be distributed to seven schools around the region. Half of each model represents a green or living roof and the other half is a traditional roof covered with shingles. Rachel's team included Tiffany Hill, Cole Neuhart and Pablo Beierle-Joliot who competed detailed designs for a senior class before the covid-19 pandemic lead to closures of lab space and an inability to build the prototype. In 2020 and 2021, Russ College Engineering Students Joel Compston and Kyle Dunlap took over the construction of the models. The models were built to help middle and high school students compare how different roof types respond to rain and temperature changes. Instrumentation and chemistry kits were included in the donations to schools to help students set up experiments and learn about the scientific process.
Imagine an entire urban area covered with green roofs! How would it change the city landscape? These models allow students to conduct experiments to find out. Water can be added to pipes above each roof to simulate rainfall. Gutters channel water from each roof for collection so that students can measure water amount and quality. “Attics” beneath each roof have openings for temperature and humidity sensors, allowing students to compare how a rooftop affects the temperature inside a home on hot or cold days. Because not all green roofs are flat, models can be adjusted to different slopes to allow students to conduct different experiments.
Building materials and asphalt absorb sunlight and reflect heat, warming a building, increasing energy costs and creating an “urban heat island effect.” Green roofs support plants that provide shade, absorb sunlight for photosynthesis, and remove heat through evapotranspiration – the movement of water through the plant into the air. Soil and plants on green roofs provide insulation, moderating temperatures inside buildings in both warm and cold seasons to reduce energy use. On OHIO’s campus, Schoonover Center and Patton Hall both have green roofs.
This project was supported by funds from the Academic Innovation Accelerator. We appreciate the teachers who are using these schools in their classrooms:
Athens High School Alexander High School
Athens Middle School Meigs Middle School
Trimble Middle School Vinton County Middle School
Zane Trace Middle School
We also donated a model to the Outdoor Museum at the Ohio University Museum Complex which will help us provide educational outreach to the community on our campus.