What is the Future City Competition?
Future City is a competition for middle school students to explore their creative and innovative imaginations to design their city of the future. Students will learn how to apply math, science, engineering and technology to develop a realistic future community and compete for regional prizes, including a trip to Washington, DC to compete in the National Competition.
The Future City Competition challenges students to design a city of the future – and have fun doing it. This program was designed to promote technological literacy and engineering to seventh and eighth grade students. The program fosters an interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real world applications and helps students better understand the practical applications of mathematical and scientific principles. The Future City Competition is a team-based program consisting of students, a teacher, and an engineer mentor. Throughout the competition, students learn to apply their knowledge to real-world situations, while seeing first hand how an engineer turns ideas into reality. Through participation in this program, students develop their problem-solving skills, as well as their ability to work as a team. They learn how to conduct research and develop their presentation skills. As they begin to design and build their city, the team members apply various math and scienti
The National Engineers Week Future City Competition (www.futurecity.org) asks 7th and 8th grade students from around the nation to team with engineer-volunteer mentors to create first on computer and then in large, three-dimensional models their visions of the city of tomorrow. Ohios Mission Statement: The mission of the Future City Competition – Ohio Region is to promote awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education at the middle school level, and to have the students experience first hand how challenging, rewarding, and important to society a career in STEM is. Background: The Future City Competition is organized under the National Engineers Week. The Future City Competition Ohio Region, a licensed 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, has been operating under the National Engineers Week Future City Competition charter since 1997. The program is aligned with National Standards, which can be reviewed at www.futurecity.org. The Competition offers students
There are several components to the competition. Each team is comprised of three students (an unlimited number of students can work on the project, but only three can present it), a teacher to help oversee the project, and an engineer from the community to act as a mentor. Students are required to design a computer model of their Future City using SimCity 4 Deluxe (Electronic Arts) simulation gaming software. The city must be set at least 150 years into the future and have a minimum of 50,000 residents. Students also must construct a 3-D tabletop model of the city with recycled materials costing no more than $100. A research essay and an abstract written by the students about their city’s key features is required. Lastly, they must give a brief oral presentation and respond to the judges’ follow-up questions. Phew! Does this sound like a whirlwind yet? It is! But as this year’s first place winner, Bexley Middle School’s Peg Engelhardt, a seventh and eighth grade math and science teache
