Dartmouth Middle School seventh graders discovered the secrets to saving the environment, and money, around their homes at an augmented reality “energy audit” on December 5.

Seventh grade students with tablets and headphones took a tour of a virtual house, set up in the school gymnasium, armed with tablets and headphones. The event, hosted by Eversource, is designed to teach students the basics of energy conservation.

The junior energy auditors used the tablets and augmented reality apps to discover areas in the home where energy usage can be scaled back, like buying Energy Star-compliant electronics and replacing inefficient incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs.

Seventh grade science teachers came up with the idea to bring the program to Dartmouth Middle after hearing about it through Eversource, explained teacher Rochelle Mitchell.

Her students just wrapped up a unit on climate change, and started a new unit on physical science and energy. Mitchell and her fellow teachers felt the experience would blend perfectly with the new unit, and provide hands-on learning.

“It gets them out of their seats, gets technology in their hands, and there is competition too,” Mitchell said, adding that the students who score the best answering questions win a prize.