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Multiple sensors record air temperature, soil temperature and soil moisture. In a sunny spot next to the panels, slightly wilted crops are also being closely monitored.

Biosphere 2 scientists north of Tucson analyze the data coming from Manzo Elementary School where students are helping with an agrivoltaics project. Agrivoltaics is the practice of growing plants 鈥� including food crops 鈥� underneath solar panels.

Greg Barron-Gafford, an associate professor of biogeography and ecosystem science at the University of 蜜聊直播 and at Biosphere 2, said the benefits are immense. They range from lowering the temperature of the solar panels, which increases their efficiency, to providing a way for agricultural land to survive on city edges.

Plants growing under solar panels show less stress, less insect damage, have more crop production and use less water compared to traditional, full-sun methods of growing crops. Last year, tomatoes protected under the panels produced fruit all winter. Barron-Gafford said as this kind of experimentation is so new, more avenues of study open up all the time.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to see how much longer water can be retained in the soil, so some of these more marginal lands could actually become productive lands, but that鈥檚 one of the things I鈥檓 really curious about,鈥� Barron-Gafford said. 鈥淐ould it sustain this level of agriculture? We need to find out. Could it sustain just grassland restoration?鈥�

With so many questions, that鈥檚 where the students at Tucson Unified School District come in. Having multiple test sites 鈥� there鈥檚 a third testing program at Rincon/University High School 鈥� is crucial. But Barron-Gafford has a team of only about three people working, so they couldn鈥檛 take all the measurements themselves.

鈥淲eekly, and sometimes multiple times a week, the different classes know they鈥檙e supposed to walk around with a soil moisture probe and check different places,鈥� Barron-Gafford said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great for us, because we鈥檙e getting real, bona fide scientific data.鈥�

All the instruments are paid for by grants, so as to not burden the school district, and the data the students take ends up in research papers, which Barron-Gafford said adds to the students鈥� experience.

鈥淭hey know the work is going into a science product and so they鈥檙e more careful than they were in the first studies,鈥� Barron-Gafford said. The goal of the study is to see how well plants grow underneath solar panels.

While there were originally challenges with students eating the harvest before it could be weighed, Barron-Gafford said it鈥檚 all about slowing the students down enough that they do a good job. Now, the biggest challenge is balancing his experimental needs with what the students want to do.

鈥淥ne of the challenges we run into with Manzo being a real research site is how many opinions there are,鈥� Barron-Gafford said. 鈥淎t the Biosphere, it鈥檚 really research and outreach to the public, but the public doesn鈥檛 have a big say in what we鈥檙e doing. Down here, it feels much more democratic. The kids have opinions about what we鈥檙e growing.鈥�

And sometimes, they push back, like when Barron-Gafford said they had to pull up all their tomatoes, even though they were still growing, so they could plant winter crops and stay on a normal growth cycle. The students didn鈥檛 understand why they were purposefully killing plants they had raised 鈥� until Barron-Gafford explained it. Then, they were on board.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e recognizing that their silly ideas could actually be something. Making that connection early on, it鈥檚 exciting,鈥� Barron-Gafford said. 鈥淲hat will the fifth-grader now turn into when they鈥檙e my age? What crazy ideas are they going to be able to generate?鈥�

Blue Baldwin, ecology program coordinator at Manzo, said the students love to be outside, helping the researchers.

鈥淲e love the opportunity to have the kids do real science, and the kids seem to like doing real science, too,鈥� Baldwin said.

Joel Garcia, a fifth-grader, said the program gave him many ideas about things he wanted to try.

鈥淭here鈥檚 this thing that I learned 鈥� my ecology teacher said they had these two apples, I think it was a golden apple and a red apple. They say if you put the two seeds mixed up together in one hole it will make a red and gold apple,鈥� Joel said. 鈥淪o I want to see if I can do that with other fruits and vegetables.鈥�

As for Kyana Villa, also a fifth-grader, she wants to push sustainability a little further. 鈥淚 want to try to put a cistern on the solar panels,鈥� Kyana said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 hard, because you can鈥檛 have it cover the panels.鈥�

The students at Manzo don鈥檛 just grow the food 鈥� they also get to eat and sell it. About once a month, they hold Manzo Market, where they pass out the produce they鈥檝e grown to the community. The school also sells tilapia fish grown in its on-campus aquaponics system.

The garden is also certified by the State Department of Health Services, according to Baldwin, so the food grown can be served in TUSD cafeterias.

鈥淚 like the salads, those usually come from the garden and are sent to the cafeteria,鈥� Joel said.

Manzo was the first school in Pima County to achieve that certification, and only the second in the state at the time, but Baldwin said the previously arduous process has gotten easier in the past few years.

鈥淭he attitude prior had been fight, fight, fight 鈥� there鈥檚 been a massive sea change at that level, which is really exciting,鈥� Baldwin said. 鈥淣ow we have a dozen TUSD schools that are certified.鈥�

While the students many not quite realize how revolutionary the program is, or the scale of what they鈥檙e helping with, they know they鈥檙e part of something special.

鈥淢ost schools, you would just be inside, but that鈥檚 what I like about here, we have our patio that鈥檚 in the sun and we have our garden. It鈥檚 like a little farm,鈥� Joel said.