Abstract—Over the past few years, the engineering programs at York College of Pennsylvania have added more community-based projects into the two-course capstone design sequence that all engineering majors take in their senior year. With capstone design already organized as a multi-disciplinary project-based learning course, it was a natural extension to develop opportunities for community-based projects. As a part of the initiative an automated urban greenhouse was designed, built, and delivered to a local city school to engage school students in sustainability and developing food awareness. A curriculum is being designed to include the greenhouse into the school activities. This paper discusses the process of including community-based projects into capstone projects involving a multidisciplinary student team. Expectations of the community-based project are presented. Detailed descriptions of the mechanical system, the electrical system, the sensor network, and the programmable logic controller are presented. System integration, on-site testing, and student outcomes assessment are also included. 
 

Index Terms—Greenhouse, Community-based project, Capstone, K-8 Education

Cite: Kala Meah, Wayne Blanding, James Moscola, and Nicole Hesson, "A Community-Based Capstone Design Project to Build an Automated Urban Greenhouse," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 59-67, June 2021. doi: 10.18178/ijlt.7.2.59-67