Learning Goals
Learning Goals
- Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed. (VA: Cr1)
- Designers develop excellence through practice and constructive critique, reflecting on, revising, and refining work over time. (VA: Cr3)
- Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved. (3-5-ETS1-3)
- Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. (3-5-ETS1-3)
- Define and delimit engineering problems. (3-5-ETS1-A)
- Develop possible solutions. (3-5-ETS1-B)
- Optimize the design solution. (3-5-ETS1-C)
- Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,
- reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W 4.10
- Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of the object. (4-PS3-1)
Materials List
Handouts
- Energy Sleuths Energy Primer Reading
- Firefly Templates (pages 10-12)
- Wind at a Glance Reading
- How Does Energy Affect Wildlife: Student Readings and Worksheets (pages 6-17)
Group Supplies
- 1 Pool noodle (example)
- 1 Cork (example)
- 1 Spool (example)
- 1 Plastic cup
- 1 Dowel
- 1 Paper tube
- 1 Straw
- 4 Skewers
- 4 Index cards
- Washers (example)
- T-pins (example)
- Hot glue
- Scissors or box cutter
- Box fan
- Wire strippers
- Drill
- KidWind Firefly class pack (example)
- KidWind Basic Wind Experiment Kit (example)
- Graph paper
- Tagboard
- Cardboard
- Wood glue
- Meter for measuring blade speed
Important Links
- Lesson Plan
- MacGyver Lesson
- Firefly Lesson
- Video: Dutch Windmills
- Video: Wind farms in the Belgian North Sea
- Video: Blade Pitch Protractor
- How Does Energy Affect Wildlife Lesson
- Video: KidWind Wind Turbine Assembly
- Video: KidWind Challenge
- Video: Vertical Axis Wind Turbines – IN 60 SECONDS
- Video: Tour A (Wind) Turbine