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Ahhh, another form of "alternative" energy! The wind! To prove I could harness this awesome force, I built THE ULTIMATE LEGO® WIND RACER! Several students immediately rose to the challenge; For example Matt ( who has NEVER built with LEGO® building blocks ) immediately set out to prove he could build a faster wind racer!
Some students experimented with sail designs. The rules were simple...the vehicle ( and it had to be a vehicle that could carry a minifig ) had to be built entirely
of LEGO® bricks...one weight maximum. Students were allowed to incorporate paper sails. Using the PCS WIND TUNNEL as a source of well wind...the car that raced from one end of the 15 foot table to the other won! It was pure pleasure watching the group madly design and redesign sails and cars! The lesson was an excellent discussion generator on topics ranging from wind energy
to aerodynamics and parachutes.
Several weeks later, I had the opportunity to visit the GT program in Mountain Home located at Mountain Home Air Force Base. PCS has been doing some instructor training and I thought it was time for a follow up session. I decided to talk a little about energy and have the kids do a hands-on project that would be exciting and informative...LEGO® WIND RACERS of course! There were some other considerations...for example, the Mountain Home program owns a variety of LEGO® kits, they do not have the wealth of pieces and parts PCS students to which PCS students have access. Building a full scale model of a nuclear reactor was out of the question! Wind racers require few parts. I had never been to the Mountain Home site and was unsure of what equipment was available ( I didn't think the Airforce was going to let us use their wind tunnel! ). Aside from the LEGO® bricks, paper and tape, Wind Racers require very little. The rule become who could build a vehicle that would travel the farthest on one "puff" or gust of lung power! I had the kids work together in teams of two ( one enterprising team discovered they could work together blowing on their sail---this project is a great one for teams ). My presentation was short. I talked about the nature of energy and how we are always trying to transform different kinds of energy into usable ways ( for example air power into mechanical energy ). After a few yo-yo tricks ( love that Tom Kuhn guy ) with me describing potential and kinetic energy I turned the kids loose building. And build they did. It was exploring at its height. Students experimented with different vehicle designs ( "should it be heavier?....should it be lighter?" ), sail designs ( "fold it in the middle? ...cut it this way?" ). I met most inquiries with a "who me?" look and encouraged them to experiment with the design. Talk about squeals of joy whenever one of their cars came close to passing mine ( "beating the adult" is always a great motivator! ). The class was evenly split between boys and girls. The girls worked in teams with far better efficiency than the boys, but it was clear they did not have the same engineering background. I sat with several teams and showed off my my car, which guided the girls into where to start their car and how to attach the sail! After several dismal results they came up with a series of cars that went as far as any of the others! |
SEE SOME PHOTOS OF WIND RACERS!
 | A Sailcar |
 | Go Car Go! |
 | This Car Can Move! |
Okay, it's not a wind car but they built this in Mountain Home!
 | A Printer! |
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