East Haven High School Digital Academy Team Presents in Hartford

Written by Doug Gardner, of East Haven High School and the English Department

EAST HAVEN, CT - The East Haven High School Digital Academy Team, The Ice Attackers, recently attend this year's Connecticut Educators Computer Association Technology Exposition held at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford on April 27th. This Expo is an opportunity for teachers and students to showcase standards-based technology projects.

This was an amazing opportunity for the students to present their work and ideas to a professional audience. Award Winners at the Connecticut Innovation Exposition, these students tackled the effects road salt has on cars, roads, animals, people, and the natural environment.

Since the early 1960’s, chloride salts have been the primary freezing point reducers in deicers used by roadway agencies; the salts include sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, and calcium chloride. The town of East Haven utilized 418 tons of deicer last winter season, comprised of 95.9% sodium chloride and a prewetting agent made of 26-29% magnesium chloride.

These particular salts yield a multitude of adverse environmental effects including dehydration of plants and destruction of vegetation.

The East Haven High School Ice Attackers were committed to designing and implementing experiments to develop an alternative ice melt solution called “Ice Fade”, comprised of sustainable, environmentally friendly components including cheese brine, alfalfa meal, beet juice, and calcium carbonate to influence not only traction but deicing capabilities as well.

The experimental solution comprised of 80% cheese brine and 20% beet juice demonstrated a melting capability that was as effective as the traditional road applications.

The Ice Attackers’ project took home First Place at the Connecticut Student Innovation Exposition last year were extremely proud to share their work with legislative leaders in Hartford.

A cross-curricular collaboration between a science course and a digital literacy skills course, this project afforded students the opportunity to grow in all six standard areas provided by the International Society for Technology in Education.

Through the exploration of a real world problem students formed a team to research, address and solve the problem while simultaneously creating company presence on the web, social media, and within their own community. Please feel free to visit their website, http://theiceattackers.wix.com/the-ice-attackers, to see more specific project details.