Project Based Learning

Year 1 - Sustainable Greenhouse Project

We started our first environmental project 6 years ago, which involved grade 7 students studying how we could extend the growing season in our greenhouse. They learned about heat transfer and made a series of modifications to the greenhouse. The grade 8 students designed a system to harvest the rainwater for the greenhouse from the school roof. They implemented a system called “first flush” that discards contaminated water before it enters the water reservoir. The grade 9 students researched and fabricated a highly efficient hydroponic system to grow lettuce for use in our school, reducing our carbon footprint, so less fossil fuels need to be used to bring in food from other communities.

Year 2 - Designing Renewable Energy Systems

In our second year, the project involved designing renewable energy systems. Students started by building an eco-classroom; an off grid learning space. Students in grades 5-12 were divided into three groups; Team Wind, Team Solar and Team Biofuel. Teams researched, designed and fabricated various renewable energy systems to power the eco-classroom. Students studied the feasibility of each renewable energy source and made recommendations to the Village of Myrnam Council for the CTEC building.

Year 2 - Received the Energy Efficiency Award

The school was nominated by Energy Efficiency Alberta to receive the 2019 Energy Efficiency Champion Award. A delegation of students went to Edmonton to receive this prestigious award at the 2019 Emerald Awards Event.

Year 3 - Reducing Our Carbon Footprint Through Community Collaboration

In this project, students researched hydroponic growing technologies, then designed and built a prototype to grow healthy food for our school and community, reducing our carbon footprint as transportation is essentially eliminated. Since the project's onset, we tripled production by building two more hydroponic systems.

Year 4 - Designing and Fabricating a Renewable Energy Vehicle

In our fourth year we acquired a fleet of electric golf carts. The carts were in poor condition and destined for the landfill, but the students gave them new life by restoring the frames, fabricating parts (including a roof-mount for a large solar panel with a special solar charge controller), and servicing the carts. These carts are in use in our community, powered entirely by the sun!

Year 5 - Net Zero Tiny Home (in progress)

In our fifth year, students transformed a school bus at the end of it's life into a net-zero tiny home through our "Net Zero Tiny Home" project. This involved refurbishing the bus and designing and fabricating components to make the bus into a net zero living space. This project is ongoing but we expect it to be completed by the end of June 2024.

Year 6 - Leading Our Community Towards Net Zero

This project focuses on reducing Myrnam's carbon footprint. Junior high students started with a forensic energy audit of the Village of Myrnam’s CTEC facility, discovering that an enormous amount of energy can be saved with simple modifications to the building’s HVAC control system. They presented their findings to the Village of Myrnam Council in November 2022. By the end of October 2023, we will add 17.4 KW onto the existing 6 KW array to achieve Net Zero!

Year 7 - Carrying Our Legacy Forward - An Environmental Stewardship Story

New Myrnam school has been actively promoting environmental sustainability through various student-centered and hands-on energy projects for the past six years. As a continuation of this effort, our students aim to create a series of video documentaries that showcase the impact of our work. Through social media platforms, we intend to share these videos to inspire students worldwide to take up similar projects that focus on energy, sustainability, and community betterment