Design and engineering teacher Gus Goodwin helps King Middle School students Elizabeth Scott and Wren Auld-Brokish, right, make measurements as they work on an offshore floating wind turbine project.

From left, eighth-graders Sam Gerber, Sabelle Guido, Andrea Garcia and Kim Clifford prepare apple crisp in Rhonda Mayer's consumer science class at Lincoln Middle School in Portland.

With pieces of the wood structures on her table, Yasmine Cumar works on the design of her turbine. The completed floating wind turbines must generate electricity.

Andrea Garcia, left, and Kim Clifford cut apples while preparing an apple crisp in Rhonda Mayer's consumer science class at Lincoln Middle School in Portland.

Eighth-graders Myles Finlay, left, Nathan Fogg, center, and Abdiqani Abdi sketch out a plan for the design of their turbine.

Teacher Rhonda Mayer checks the consistency of a crumb topping being made by eighth-graders Kim Clifford, right, and Andrea Garcia.

"They have to reach agreement and then they have to pull their weight," Goodwin says of the required project.