Practical Action
The Wind Power Challenge
Up it goes! Groups must design and build a windmill able to lift a weight. The packet includes discussion points to use prior to the build that cover topics such as variables, fairness, and the design process.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Working with Wind Energy
Teams design and build a windmill, under budget, that can lift an object. The groups evaluate and reflect on their own design, then on those produced by other teams. The goal is to determine which design is the most...
Bonneville
Wind Energy
Let the wind take pupils to a new understanding of renewable energy. The fifth of seven parts in the A Community Powered by Renewable Energy unit has learners investigate wind energy. They find out why wind occurs, learn about windmills...
Science Friday
Wind Power
Blow away the competition with a lesson about wind power and turbines. Groups build windmills to test how the size of blades affect the amount of work done. The scholars build a variety of blades and collect data on how each type...
WindWise Education
How Does a Windmill Work?
Can my windmill pick up a weight? Given the same set of materials, groups design and build the most efficient windmill. On the first day, groups concentrate on getting a windmill to spin, while on the second day, they modify their...
Museum of Science
Wind Turbine
Let the energy blow. Using mostly easily found material such as PVC pipe and fans, pupils build wind turbines. Scholars connect a multimeter to an electric motor to determine the amount of energy generated by their designs. Learners then...
Curated OER
An Exploration of Wind Energy and Wind Turbines
How is wind produced and is it a good source for energy production? Get some air moving in your class. Learners take a pre-test, watch a demonstration of how electricity can be generated by wind energy, test different turbine factors for...
Discovery Education
Wind Power
How do engineers turn something that is readily available, like wind, into energy? Scholars create a prototype of a wind turbine and attach it to a motor. They test out their prototypes and decide on their effectiveness. They also...
Bonneville
Wind Power: A Hands on Experience
Turn a learning experience into a fun lesson. Future engineers create blades for a wind turbine using card stock. Using a fan, they test how well the blades help the wind turbine turn. The goal is to build blades that are effective...
Bonneville
How to Build a Turbine
Here is a six-minute video of a pair of electrical engineers that illustrate how to build a wind turbine. A list of materials is provided, along with general guidelines for your class. Use this to introduce turbine design to your...
DiscoverE
Design a Wind Turbine
Discover the power of wind energy. Learners design, build, and test wind blades in a hands-on experiment. They analyze the results to determine if they can make any improvements before gathering as a class to discuss their designs.
Bonneville
Variables Affecting Wind Turbine Power
Design the best from the best. Groups work together to come up with the best configuration of different variables that affect a wind turbine. The teams choose from several variables such as the number of blades, the angle of the blades,...
WindWise Education
Which Blades Are Best?
If I change the length, will they work better? After brainstorming the variables of wind turbine blade design, groups choose one variable to isolate and test. The groups then present their data to the class in order for all to have the...
Curated OER
Wind Energy
Students explore wind energy by making a pinwheel to model a wind turbine. They experiment with their turbine by placing it in different locations for optimal energy.
Curated OER
Wind Power
Students explore wind energy. For this wind power lesson, students create models of wind turbines and experiment with changes that will help efficiency. Students watch a video on wind power and discuss. Students work in groups to create...
Curated OER
Writing the Wind
Students make a windmill. For this wind lesson, students learn background information about the windmill, complete an activity where they create a windmill, discuss using wind as a natural resource and brainstorm other inventions...
Curated OER
"Blow, Wind, Blow" - Wind Power
In this renewable energy worksheet, students learn about wind power. They then answer the 2 questions on the worksheet. The answers are on the last page of the packet.
Curated OER
Windmill activity
High schoolers explore how to build an efficient windmill design by taking into account how the lift and drag caused by the movement of wind can be used to make the blades of the turbine move. Through their readings, hypothesis and by...
Curated OER
Wind Turbine Kit
In this physics worksheet, students set up a wind turbine kit to identify what happens when it is assembled. They describe how energy is transferred within the circuit created and how many blades give the highest voltage.
Curated OER
Blade Design of Windmills
In this engineering worksheet, 9th graders experiment with the design of a windmill blade to generate more electricity by creating a step by step plan, drawing a diagram, recording data from trials, write a conclusion and a comparison of...
National Wildlife Federation
Power Pellets! Nuclear Energy in the United States
Nuclear power provides about 20 percent of the energy generated in the United States. The seventh activity in the series of 12 tackles nuclear power. After sharing what they know about nuclear energy, scholars complete a...
WindWise Education
How Can I Design Better Blades?
Small groups use information they have learned about blade construction to design, build, and test their own concepts. The teams compete in order to determine which design has the best average power output.
Curated OER
Kite building activity
Students explore how a kite flies; this lesson is a precursor for the windmill activity. By exploring how a kite flies, the students explore the power of the wind; particulary how drag, lifft and gravity enable objects such as kites and...
DiscoverE
Kinetic Sculpture
Let your creativity run wild. Scholars build a sculpture out of basic materials. These sculptures must be able to move in the wind (from an electric fan). However, they must also withstand the wind enough to not fall over—it's quite the...