Northville Students Harness Solar Power for Tasty Treats

Amerman Elementary's third grade students celebrated solar energy last week with their Solar Cook Off. 

Khris Nedam and Greg Bergin's third grade students designed and built solar ovens. The students made s'mores and cookies, which bubbled and baked to perfection inside their solar ovens on the playground behind their class. 

Students in Nedam's class said they researched, tested and modified their designs for two weeks. They used materials like black paint, plexiglass and aluminum foil to maximize the sun's energy.

"To get to at least 200 degrees Fahrenheit was our goal," Sydney Kinsinger, 9, said.

Students discovered how to make their solar ovens more efficient, which made for faster-baking cookies that filled their classroom with the aroma of melted chocolate. 

"You have to the make the solar oven adjustable. If you only make one angle, it can't catch the sun," said Roxanne Smith, 9.

Nedam said students looked at results from previous years to improve their designs. Two years ago the record temperature for the solar ovens was only 108 degrees Fahrenheit  This year's record, set by Christopher Gruschow, 9, was 279 degrees Fahrenheit.

"At first I had no flaps. Then I put a flap on the top, bottom and flaps on the sides. And now it gets really hot," he said.

Annika Zaar, 9, said she learned that her solar oven needed glass or clear plastic wrap so that heat could get in but not out. Students also came across an unusual finding. Destin Groves, 8, said the class learned that paper worked as a better insulator than fiberglass. 

Amerman Elementary students also celebrated solar energy last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony for the school's solar panels and a race of students' solar-powered Lego cars.