Science Camp Overview
Monday 04/02/2012

• Eco Friendly Lazarian World Homes
- Non-profit Christian Organization that builds homes as a ministry and as a way to give back to the community
-Homes are built with insulated concrete forms (lego style building technique). Simple and inexpensive to build
-1st organization to go into Haiti after the Tsunami
-Lazarian Homes builds in 3rd world/poor countries
-There are only 2 Lazarian Structures in the United States. One is the Body of Christ Church on the TM Reservation. The other is a home on the Santa Rosa Cahuilla Reservation near Anza.

• Alberto Ramirez (EPA/Environental Protection Agency Director)
-Students budgeted for and came up with their own sustainable housing design by playing the Environmental game and the Building game on the following website: www.mysusthouse.org
-Incentive was given out to two students, the ones with the highest score for each game

• Al Jimenez (TM employee, building official/emergency manager)
- Students learned about Sustainable Housing and Building Evolution
- Sustainable housing examples: thatch homes and stick homes
- Building Evolution: Cave dwellings  Cave Communities  Thatch homes  Stick homes  Log cabins  Modern Housing
- Sustainable/prehistoric homes use natural lighting
- Modern housing requires electricity which means power is harnessed from fans, coal, or by burning wood. Electricity causes FIRE
- Deforestation: cutting down forests
- Reforestation: for every one tree that gets cut down two get replanted. Therefore the forest is replenished
- 4 R’s:
1. Reuse materials for construction
2. Reclaim water and other precious resources
3. Recycle materials and even by products
4. Rethink every possible method of construction
-Students were given a copy of “Building Green Places” by Ruth Owen

• Rogelio Garza (Video Production and Graphic Design Instructor at Desert Mirage)
- Students learned about the Scientific Method
- What is the Scientific Method? The Scientific Method refers to the steps to answer a question.
- There are 6 steps to the Scientific Method
1. Question
2. Research- collecting information (interviewing, books, web, photos)
3. Hypothesis- an educated guess
4. Experiment- testing your hypothesis
5. Analysis- looking at and reviewing your information from experiment
6. Conclusion- the end, summary of what was learned
- Quantitative: Judge something on how many there is. Data/Results that you can count
- Qualitative: Results that you can’t count (people’s opinions, etc)
- M & M Experiment

• Tony Korwin (Teacher at Desert Mirage)
- Students learned about Green Energy and Sustainable ways of living
- Students learned about various types of Native homes including: Kish, Pueblo, and Tipi
*Note: the environment plays a large role in Native housing. Native housing is built using supplies found in nature.
Examples:
 Cahuilla Home (Kish) - built using palms, straw, rope and branches
 Tipi/Teepee (Plains) - built using wood, animal skins such as buffalo, and paint from minerals
 Igloo/Snow Home- built from Ice and snow (Ice bricks cemented with snow)
 Pueblo Homes- built using mud, rocks, dirt and adobe
- Geothermal: pumping water underground and cooling it to 55 degrees and then pumping it back up to be used.

Tuesday April 3rd (Field Trip)

• Students were taken on Jeep Tours through the Cahuilla Village and the Coachella Valley Preserve. They saw a recreation of a Cahuilla Village, an Oasis, and areas of the valley where ancient people used to call “Home.”
• The tour explored different areas of the desert and focused on the materials used by man found in the environment.

Wednesday April 4th (Field Trip)

• Body of Christ Church took students to see Lazarian Homes
o The Lazarian Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) polystyrene foam block is the basis for the Lazarian World Home. With these blocks, the Lazarian World Home structures become simple and inexpensive to build.
o The assembling of walls requires only four Styrofoam pieces, which include the Standard and Lintel Block, a Plug, and the End Cap. The Standard Wall Block and Lintel/Header Block comprise the main pieces. These blocks are 48"L X 12"H X 8"W and weigh about 3 pounds. The blocks interlock through a Lego type nature that allows for quick and easy assembly. This process along with the features of the Styrofoam blocks, gives our buildings the strength and durability that is seldom seen within the class of affordable housing.

Thursday April 5th

• Mr. Michael Reule came in to talk about the Chemistry of Native Structures. Being a Chemistry teacher at Desert Mirage High School he was able to engage the students by demonstrating how various particles arrange themselves based on their size within the soil, where adobe fits into the “Soil Texture Triangle,” and how one would use a catalyst to give adobe clay a particular color.
o To demonstrate how different sized particles make up the soil he filled a gallon sized cylinder with marbles. Then poured in a smaller sized type of rock commonly used in fish tanks, to show how they fit in between the marbles. He continued by then pouring sand into what seemed to be an already full container, amazingly he was able to put in quite a good amount. Then to show that there was still room, he poured in water. This demonstration gave a visual representation of how the particles of greater diameter lie at the lowest levels of a soil index and the smaller sized particles like silt or adobe are easily found at its top levels.
o The students also got to see Mr. Reule demonstrate the oxidation of manganese, which gave the adobe clay a darker brown or black color. He heated up the manganese and mixed it in with hydrogen peroxide H2O2 which he used as a catalyst (Catalyst - a substance that increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process) to show how to manipulate the composition of clay using chemistry.

• Mr. Gerardo Bojorquez came in to talk about efficient and environmentally friendly sources of energy.
o He explored environmentally conscious ways we can heat, cool, and power our homes using Geo-Thermal, Solar, and Wind turbine systems. He displayed models of how they would be set up in a common household setting.
o He also had the students build their own Solar Oven. Using a paper template which they cut out and pasted aluminum foil to, they were able to use their design to focus the sun’s rays to utilize them for heat.

• Mr. Gonzalo Pinedo came in as well to help the students express themselves on canvas.
o He showed them how to use and mix the primary colors to create other types of colors they wanted to use.
o Students painted pictures about the new and exciting things they learned during Science Camp. As an example some students painted the scenes they saw during their field trip was well as the sustainable homes they made using different clay materials.

So Happy To See All The Kids Learning And Participating In Your Program.
Especially Very proud Of Amelia & Joshua For All Their Hard Work!!!
A Big Thank You To Luisa & The Tutors Who Make This Program Successful:)
Have A Great Rest Of The Year!