With the organization of their teacher, Kim Meyer, 5th Graders, Julian Laubenthal, Noah Maring, Silas Reames, Sophia Steensma, Landon Sytsma and Owen VanderKooy put their minds together to create a wind turbine for the Michigan Kidwind competition.
The team started the process by creating pinwheels and sailboats, experimenting with different designs and their reaction to wind. They used a box fan and DIY supplies to create a general basis for how wind works.
They found that the best designs usually sported an airplane-wing shape, which could easily catch wind. Using 3D printing and rocks to stabilize the base, a wind turbine was created. Prototyping the wind turbine on the 3D printing design program was a new step for many of these young learners, but they were able to get the blades designed and constructed.
The team named themselves “Christian Power,” and designed the logo that accompanied them at the Michigan Kidwind competition (see shirt design on right).
Christian Power presented their model and poster to a panel of college professor judges for review. They won the poster and presentation portion of the competition, and placed second in testing their wind turbine model.
Owen described the competition as “fun, but intense.”
Also at the competition, they were able to compete in an Instant STEM Challenge, using what they had learned to “make something wind powered.”
Teams were encouraged to choose from a variety of everyday objects to complete this task. Christian Power used a simple design of a plastic bag and straws, which won them this mini challenge too.
Along with learning basic math and science skills, these young scholars dug deeper into the world of wind power, learning about wind turbine function, blade angles and measuring wind impact.
Owen said, “I learned a lot about how the angle actually matters for some things because, just having them [the blades] on randomly does not work as well for getting it [the wind turbine] to work.”
Each member of Christian power had a strength, some being more involved in creating the poster and presentation, others being more involved in wind turbine design and others being involved in construction.
Silas said, “I think we learned that sometimes it’s good to work by ourselves, but we also need to work together.”
Meyer had positive things to say about Christian Power’s performance at Kidwind and their collaboration throughout the process. She said, “I liked how you guys were very scattered at the beginning and doing kind of your own thing, but, especially when it came closer to the contest, you really worked together. You were working independently pretty much and all working towards a common goal, and you handled that really well.”
These students pushed themselves to learn and create something new, giving up many “free” hours of recess time; however, their efforts were rewarded when they accumulated enough points to win the overall score in the Elementary division at the Michigan Kidwind competition.
