A group of 31 sixth graders from Stillwater Middle School wanted to help migrating birds in the St. Croix River Valley.
About 80 percent of migrating birds do so at night, using the stars and moon for navigation. According to Corrie Christensen, the sixth-graders’ science teacher, about half of those birds perish due to disorientation caused by light pollution.
To help protect the birds, the students designed a special bioluminescent light that curbs light pollution. The downward-facing solar lights — dubbed “Lumen Bloom” — are shaped like a Snowdrop flower and have “petals” that incorporate robotics to open and close based on the time of day.
For their efforts, Christensen’s class was recently named one of 10 national finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition.
The title earned them $50,000 in prizes. The students earned an additional $10,000 in prizes last month when they won the competition’s Community Choice Winner award, which was based on a month-long online public vote.
Christensen said her sixth-grade class was one of the youngest teams to advance in the national competition.
“They were up against groups who were seniors in high school,” she said. “Some of those students talked to us and told us that we should be so proud for making it this far because they were engineering students who were already accepted into college-engineering programs. These kids were incredible.”
Three students, Arthur Lee, Eleanor Keyser and Maria Donnay presented the project at a live pitch event in April at the Samsung Solutions Center in Washington, D.C., answering questions before a panel of expert judges.
Samsung’s nationwide Solve For Tomorrow competition is designed to empower students in grades 6 to 12 to leverage the power of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) “to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities,” according to the competition’s website.
Every year, Solve for Tomorrow awards more than $2 million in Samsung technology and classroom supplies to participating public schools throughout the U.S. The national winners, selected from the 10 national finalists, each received a prize package worth $100,000, while the remaining seven national finalists were awarded $50,000 packages.
Working with city
In order to reduce the impact of light pollution on bird migration patterns in the St. Croix River Valley, the Stillwater Middle School students developed a plan with three priorities: finding an alternative light source using bioluminescence; using sensors to reduce unnecessary light and designing a cover for streetlights to prevent upward lighting.
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They filmed a three-minute video showing the class’s “journey from problem to solution and why,” Christensen said.
They also met with Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski to talk about the issues and better understand the city’s lighting policies and ordinances, she said.
The final design was modeled to look like a Snowdrop, a spring flower in Minnesota, and used robotics and sensors to open and close the petals and have the light illuminating a space, Christensen said.
“Our hope is to be able to implement a few of these lights in our community, especially along the riverfront and use this as a way to educate people with bird migration and light pollution,” the students explain in the video. “We’re working with the Stillwater city engineer to test our prototypes. Every day needs night. Let’s help birds keep flight.”
