How can we transfer energy stored in the wind into something useful?
Re:Volt is a Year 7 expedition, run between April and May.
The learning targets were :
- I can describe the different stores of energy that exist in our universe
- I can describe the energy transfers found in a system
- I can use algebra to solve energy story problems
- I can use Ohm’s law to analyse simple series and parallel circuits
- I can design a system that transfers energy stored in the wind into something useful
The immersion for this learning expedition was an experiment where students examined the relationship between the extension of an elastic band and the distance travelled after firing. Students looked at dependent, independent and control variables and how to make it a fair test.
They also read a text about a boy called William Kamkwamba called “The boy who harnessed the wind”. In it, William describes how his curiosity about dynamos led to him making his own wind turbine for his home in Malawi.
Students then thought more carefully about what was happening when they fired the band during the immersion, and how energy that was first stored in their arm was transferred to the elastic band. They learned about the different ways that energy can be stored or transferred and found out that energy cannot be created or destroyed. They created Sankey diagrams to show how energy is conserved, using arrows that were in proportion with the amount of energy they represented.
Students grappled with algebra a lot in this expedition and did lots of practice with story problems, thinking about how they use language when talking about maths and how this can be expressed as algebraic expressions and equations.
This was all vital to the final challenge where students had to design blades for a wind turbine, working out the best design by doing lots of fair tests. They also had to design circuits that would transfer the energy stored first in the wind into something useful, light. Students used Ohm’s law and algebra to model LED circuits, which culminated in a competition to see which team could get the most light out of their turbine.
Links to the resources for this expedition are below:
Blade Designs – 2015/16
Wind Turbine in action – 2014/15
