Today the Energy class discussed passive solar heat and the greenhouse effect.  To apply what they learned, they built their own solar houses, out of styrofoam shipping boxes and whatever else they thought was appropriate.

Many students chose to use water as a heat sink--this group went to the extreme and lined their house with a black plastic bag filled with water as a heat sink.  

Other variables included the color of the box interior, use of reflective material on the inside of the lid, window size and window composition.  One group omitted the window completely; while their gain to loss ratio was the highest, the absolute gain in temperature was the lowest.  The most creative insulation was a fur hat!