It's a WIIIIINDY day in 7th grade!

I have been excited for this week for a loong time. Not only because it is the week before spring break (yahhhooo!), but also because it is.... (drum roll pleassse) wind turbine week! I have become a HUGE fan of clean energy. My husband and I are beginning to build our home this summer, and I would love to go off the grid if we had an unlimited budget. Anyways, since there will be no wind turbines and solar panels on our new home (yet), I wanted to spread my love to wind turbines to the class.. and I guess teach them a thing or two about energy conversions and engineering design. Yesterday, students spent all day researching two different types of wind turbines: horizontal axis and vertical axis. Today, they spent most of their time in planning and the little time they had left constructing their turbine. They only get X amount of dollars to spend on materials for their turbine. The goal of their turbine is to lift 10 pennies 30 cm off the ground. I will be back tomorrow with pictures of all of the crazy awesome designs that they come up. Because it is the week before my spring break and I'm feeling super awesome about it, I'm also going to put the entire packet for this project free on my website for a week! Have a great rest of the week!