KidWind

Secondary ~ Grades 5-9 

We are looking forward to the 2021-2022 KidWind season!

Practice will start Tuesday, September 28, 2021.  Meetings are every Tuesday from 2:00pm-3:00pm, 9/28/21 through March 2022.

KidWind is a state and national competition in which students learn about alternative energy sources like wind and solar. Students design a wind turbine to produce the most energy using a KidWind generator. This club encourages students to use the scientific method to discover the best materials, blade designs, hub designs, blade angles, and other variables to produce the most joules of any other wind turbine design. We test our wind turbines in a 4-foot by 4-foot wind tunnel and document our findings so that we can see which settings and designs work the best.

Students work together in teams as they design their wind turbines. The actual competition includes demonstrating the wind turbine, a paper-and-pencil test, and instant challenges like building a solar car, building a a wind car, creating the best windmill to pick up metal washers, siting a wind farm, or demonstrating how to design different gear configurations. Work in the after-school club will also include some of these challenges. In 2019, the national competition had students create a wind turbine that could yaw (turn in the wind). In the 2021 national competition, students demonstrated the power output of their wind turbines virtually by video taping themselves using anemometers and Go Direct! energy sensors. Students also made a PSA (public service announcement) about alternative energy resources. We do not yet know what this year's competitions will entail, but we will be practicing.

American Charter Academy is very proud of our two teams who participated in the state and national competitions. Both teams had the highest energy output of any teams at the competition using a KidWind generator!

• Team AK Hurricanes, featuring Rikki and Caleb, won first place in the state competition and earned 92.7 points (out of 100) in the national competition. (They were fifth place overall in the middle school competition!)

• Team The Georges, featuring Bridger, Cooper, and Luke, won second place in the state competition and earned 100.1 (out of 100) points in the national competition. (They were second place overall!)

 *Students must be willing to work together to solve problems and prepare to participate in the competition on a Saturday in the spring of 2022.  

To participate, all students must have a signed permission slip turned in to the office and a ride to pick them up at 3:00 pm.

Please see the office or Mrs. Drake for permissions slips.  If you have any questions please contact our sponsor teacher, Mrs. Drake (907-352-0159)

email: carol.drake@matsuk12.us   

For more information see Mrs. Drake.