|
 Earlier
this month, the Challenger Learning Center at Heartland Community
College hosted a competition for middle school and high school
students to test their science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) skills.
Students from grades 4-12 gathered both at Heartland’s Challenger
Learning Center (CLC) and online to design and build a model wind
turbine for the Central Illinois KidWind Renewable Energy Challenge.
Because of the inclement weather, the six teams from District 27 had
to compete virtually.
Tammy Dietrich, who teaches third through fifth grade
STEAM classes at Northwest, Central and Washington Monroe welcomed
everyone to the open house. With six teams, Dietrich said there were
two teams from each school competing. Five of the teams were
comprised of four students and one team had three students.
Before the competition, each team had put together a “miniature”
wind turbine using wood, cardboard, PVC pipes, sensors and motors.
Some teams also used wires, and one team used foam board. The teams
then used box fans to generate “wind” and make their turbines move.
Dietrich said the box fans generate four meters per second.
On the day of the competition, the teams met at
Northwest. They had to record measurements of the voltage generated
by the box fans as they made the wind turbine models spin. Each team
did Google slides of their data and sent all the information to the
Challenger Learning Center. A few teams made videos.
Dietrich said everyone worked hard on their projects with no
coaching from Dietrich, Lincoln Junior High School STEM teacher
Heather Kuethe or District 27 Technology Coordinator Barb Coffey.
The six teams were as follows:
The Northwest Wind Wildcats, made up of Makayla
Gaskins, Christian Sampson, Ginara Branch and Arielle Odor.
The Northwest Wind Girls, made up of Vivian Xie,
Gracelynn Struebing, Maddy Lee and Leah Conley.
The Central Paper Airplanes, made up of Austin Petty,
Abram Cook, Quinn Davis and Poppy Ely.
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The Central Soldiers, made up of Hudson Miller,
Jaklyn Knapp and Silas Judd.
Washington Monroe Wind Warriors, made up of Amelia
Van Wie, Dylan alters, Skylar Vineyard and Esther Van Wie.
THEUS (Zues and Thor), also from Washington Monroe
made up of Noah Sarabia, Rose Sering, Ender Boward and Rutvika
Patel.
VIDEO - Wind Energy demonstration by the
Northwest Wild Cats team
At the open house, the teams again set up their wind turbine models
and demonstrated how they worked so everyone could see the teams in
action.
When asked how long the project took, one team said they spent four
days putting together the wind turbine model.
As the wind turbine model spun, the multimeter registered 179 meters
per second for one team. Speeds can go even higher than that.
After everyone had a chance to ask questions and watch the teams do
their demonstrations, Dietrich handed out special awards to each
team.
The first award was for Future Innovators to
encourage team learning and growth. Two teams received this award:
the Northwest Wind Wildcats and the Central Airplanes.
The second award was for the elementary school Spirit of KidWind.
The team receiving this award was the Northwest Wind Girls
The judges’ first place award went to Washington Monroe’s Wind
Warriors.
Last year, Dietrich said the elementary school students were
competing against eight graders, which was a challenge. This year,
since there were more teams, the competition was split into three
categories.
The third place team overall in the elementary school division was
Team Theus from Washington Monroe.
The first place team overall elementary school
division was Central Soldiers. Dietrich said this team was also
awarded a trophy that lights up and spins. This trophy will be
displayed at Central School.
As the Open House drew to a close, Dietrich thanked everyone for
coming and invited people to take photos of the kids with their
awards and the wind turbine models.
[Angela Reiners with photos by Reiners
and Tammy Dietrich] |
