The KidWind Project is a team of teachers, engineers and scientists committed to innovative energy education. Their goal
is to promote understanding of wind power through affordable tools that challenge, engage and inspire students of all ages.Eco Tutor is pleased to provide Kidwind's information and resources about wind energy, free lesson
plans, and numerous ideas for building an educational wind turbine.
KidWind Lessons:
Energy Notions: Using images and drawings you can better understand what students think about the future of renewable/non renewable energy before you start to teach them about it
"See" the Wind: Using kites and caution tape you can help students see the variability in wind speeds due to turbulence and friction near the surface of the earth.
Wind Farm Scale Models: In a hands on activity students visualize how big windmills will look for a proposed offshore wind farm.
Designing Wind Turbine Blades: Students design and test wind blades on a small PVC turbine
Siting Wind Projects: In a hands on activity you can help students see the complexities faced by a community that wants to build a large wind farm in their township.
Wind Power: What is a wind power curve and what does is tell us about a wind turbine?
Local Wind Data: Using a simple data logging anemometer and Excel we can do some pretty sophisticated analysis of the wind resources around your school or home.
Math Lessons
Units: helpful units and conversions for wind energy math
Gear Ratios: calculate gear ratios and see how gears are used in wind turbines (Elementary-Middle School)
Swept Area: calculate the swept area of your turbine blades using the area of a circle (Middle School-High School)
Coefficient of Power: measure the efficiency of a wind turbine by calculating its coefficient of power
(Middle School-High School)
Tip Speed Ratio: measure wind turbine tip speed ratios and learn about optimal TSRs for turbines
(High School)
Triangle Height Measurement: estimate the height of a wind turbine by using similar triangles
(Elementary-Middle School)
Word Problems: Explore the math and economics behind wind energy with these challenging word problems (Middle School-High School)
Answer Key: KidWind problems answer key.
Supporting Documents:
KidWind Wind Farm
Wind Energy Myths
Using Turbines with Super Capacitors
Using Turbines with Fuel Cells
Turbine Power Output Information
Wind Turbine Construction Instructions:
AL Wind Turbine: The ALTurbine (Adaptable Learning Turbine) is designed for wind energy experiments for classrooms and science projects. Build this turbine to test motors, gears, and blade designs. Test your power output with LED and incandescent bulbs, a mini water pump, and more.
Basic PVC Wind Turbine: The Basic Turbine is a great start for teaching about wind energy in the classroom. This is the most affordable and robust wind turbine kit on the market. Design blades and test your power output with a multimeter, LED bulbs, or an ultra capacitor.
Geared PVC Wind Turbine: The Geared Turbine is a more powerful version of the Basic Turbine. You can run blade design experiments using a multimeter to record power output, and you can test your blades by how many LED bulbs they light up or how much water you pump!
Weight Lifter Wind Turbine: The Weightlifter Turbine is a wind energy kit that explores mechanical power. The Basic Kit contains all the materials you need to explore weightlifting wind turbines. The Extended Kit adds an electrical generating turbine head so you can also use your turbine to generate electricity - similar to the Basic PVC Turbine.
