On May 9, a team of eighth-graders from Deer Creek Middle School, Mary Jane McCloskey, Ian Cameron, and Ben Karl, will travel to Chicago, Illinois to compete in the 2018 KidWind Challenge. The challenge is simple: build a wind turbine that produces as much energy as possible during one minute in a competition wind tunnel. Teams design around a standard generator. After that, it’s all up to their research, creativity, and application of science.
The Deer Creek team earned an invitation to the national competition after finishing 2nd in a regional event hosted by the Wings Over the Rockies Museum in April. In the weeks since, they’ve been working with engineering teacher Nathan Schwalen on hands-on concepts from electromagnetism, aerodynamics, and mechanical engineering. They’ve improved their initial blade and gearbox designs and are preparing to showcase the new turbine and their learning in Chicago.