Bement students build award-winning turbines, qualifying for the national level
BEMENT, Ill. (WCIA) — In Piatt County, a group of middle school students have a lot to celebrate. Bement eighth graders are exploring the world of STEM in a whole new way by building their own wind turbines.
“This ties into what they do in science with energy, in motion,” Hope Walker, the math and STEM teacher, said. “In math, we talk a lot about angles this time of year. I decided this would be a good way to see those things in action.”
So, the students got to work. Once the kits came in the mail, they constructed them part by part.
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“The only part that was up to us was the blades,” Lucas Fuson, one of the students, said. “We had to figure out the design of the blade, and the pitch of the blade.”
After experimenting in the classroom, they took their turbines on the road to the “KidWind Renewable Energy Challenge” at Heartland Community College in Normal.
Half of the time was spent on tunnel testing and changing the angles of their turbines. Then, they hooked a generator up to two cords to see how many joules it would generate.
On the first try, Silas Olson’s group only generated four joules.
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“The pitch of our blade was too steep,” the eighth-grader said. “But then he gave us some advice to make them a bit flatter so they’d catch more wind.”
In the end, Olson’s team got second place and his other classmates placed first. Now, they’re walking away with new knowledge and even a trip to the next level. The students who placed first and second qualify for a national competition in Minneapolis in May.
While the school is figuring out logistics and raising money, the students are looking back at what they learned, while Walker is proud of how far they’ve come.
“It’s been neat to see them work within their groups, work with each other to learn and to teach each other,” Walker said.
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