Green Housing? Sustainable Architecture? Who Cares?

Over the last grading period, I've noticed something about my sixth period class: a severe apathy towards all things school-related seems to have gripped them. Sixth period is one of my Active physics class, a conceptual physics class geared toward sophomores. Most of the students that end up in Active physics barely passed biology last year and would have failed miserably in chemistry this year, had they taken it. Active physics gives them a year to work on their math skills and to (hopefully) mature a bit before they attempt chemistry. Often my Active kids have diagnosed learning disabilities; I team-teach the class with a special ed teacher. Needless to say, these kids have little patience for school; they've never been good at it, so why should they try? If it's not on their iPod, it's not worthwhile. Dave, my team-teacher, and I have really struggled to get sixth period involved and interested. Nothing we do seems to catch them.

Now it would be one thing if they were just listlessly sitting there, drooling. It's another when they're throwing food, bickering endlessly with each other, swearing like it's going out of fashion, vandalizing desks and textbooks with bathroom-stall material, and committing other assorted acts of destruction. At times, I've felt, "As long as no one dies, this class will have been a success." Needless to say, I dread sixth period. So what can I do? How can I grab them? Even if I can't salvage sixth period, what could I do next year to prevent another disaster like this?

An article in The Physics Teacher led me to wander around the website of a charter school system in California, High Tech High. The schools emphasizes interdisciplinary learning and project-oriented evaluation. A chemistry/math teacher created an interesting project for her students called This New Home; the write-up is quite detailed. The basic idea is that students design a "green" home, one that includes certain elements of sustainable design and planning. The end product is a scale model of the home they design and a brochure describing the green elements demonstrated through it. When I first read through it, I was really excited. I thought, "This is something that would be perfect for Active!"

Now, although I couldn't do it this year - too much planning and money needed for a project like this - I could try it next year, probably during the third quarter when we study electricity and circuits. I like the project for several reasons:

• It addresses a real-life problem: Everyone's heard about global warming and what we should or shouldn't be doing to solve it. The problem isn't one that's contrived or made up simply for a physics class. Students deal directly with what they hear on the news.
  
• It involves a variety of skills: Students will have to do math (geometry, bugdeting, ratios), physics (electricity, circuits, photovoltaics), and art (models, design schematics, brochure).
  
• It's hands-on: Students work with their hands to create designs and models.
  
• It involves the the community: I intend to invite some area architects familiar with sustainable design to present about green housing, provide examples, and critique student designs.

The question I keep coming back to is this: Who cares? Why won't they not care about green housing and global warming as much as they don't care about conservation of momentum and projectile motion? Considering that this project will require considerable time and expense to plan and run, wouldn't it be a waste? If I did this project with my sixth period class, I'm certain I'd regret it. So why bother?

(Now don't get me wrong. I plan on doing this project next year - I've already invested a lot of time and thought into it - but I want some sort of assurance that it's going to be a success. And I want ideas about what I can do to make sure it'll be a success.)