The schools’ electricity bill is very high, and we need the funds to buy an IWB for every classroom. Could we use a sustainable renewable energy source such as wind to reduce these costs?

The schools’ electricity bill is very high, and we need the funds to buy an IWB for every classroom. Could we use a sustainable renewable energy source such as wind to reduce these costs?  

In groups of 4 investigate wind turbines and if they could be a solution to the problem considering:  

• how wind turbines have been used in the past and present;  

• the costs of electricity versus wind energy;  

• the environmental impact of wind power versus traditional electricity; 

• how wind turbines operate and produce energy. 

Follow all of the technological processes of investigating, generating, producing and collaborating and managing. 

You have been assigned by Mrs Muirhead and Mrs Toomey to research, design and build a wind turbine and present this information in a persuasive, creative and informative way to the Principal to convince her to install a wind turbine to reduce costs in our school. 

Each group will consist of a historian, economist, environmentalist and scientist and will undertake a jigsaw activity to research the feasibility of wind power resolving the school's problem using a Webquest. 

Investigating:

The Historians should answer the questions:  

• What was wind energy used for previously and what is it used for now? 

• What key features do the past and present turbines have? 

• Think about the elements of these turbines, what they produced, what made them effective. 

Record answers in a Venn diagram. 

The Economist should answer the questions: 

• How much does the school's electricity currently cost? (Obtain the electricity bill)  

• How much does wind energy cost? 

• What key features of wind turbines could impact the cost? 

• Think about the number of turbines, size, what they need to operate. 

Records cost information in an excel graph.

Environmentalist should answer the questions:

What impact does wind turbines as a source of energy have on the environment? 

• What impact does traditional energy sources have on the environment? 

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each energy source? 

• What are the key features of wind turbines that result in advantages? 

• Think about what the wind turbine does, how it operates and what it needs to operate. 

Summarise findings in a table.  

The Scientists should answer the questions: 

• How does the wind turbine create mechanical energy?  

• What are the key elements of a wind turbine? 

• What conditions make it operate well? What conditions make it ineffective?  

• Are there any constraints in the school environment? 

Summarise findings in a concept map.   

Websites

Economist

What is wind power? How does it work? What are the costs?

How do schools save money?

Historian

Evolution of a wind turbine 

Wind farms history

Scientist 

Wind energy facts

How do wind turbines work? 

Learn about wind farms

How wind farm work

Environmentalist

Renewable energy schools in Australia

Collgar Wind Farm WA

General Information on Wind Turbines

Energy Resource: Wind Power

Fun facts about wind power

Wind energy fact for YR3-4

Acciona

Watch these two YouTube clips for some ideas of making your own wind turbine:

How to build a windmill

How to build a windmill

BTN - Now to wind farms which were a hot topic of conversation last week after the Prime Minister said they "make a lot of noise" and are "visually awful". He also suggested that he wished there were fewer of them in Australia. But how many are there and how do they actually work? Wind Energy​​​​​​​

Here is a primary school in the UK, check out what they have been up to...

Cassop Primary School, UK

Collaborating and managing: 

Think about the information each person in the group has provided and how you can use it to resolve the problem. What needs to be done? How are tasks to be distributed so that each student has an equal role and contributes? There is not much time so consider how you manage the project to achieve all the requirements. How will the group manage any differences of opinions and work well?  

Generating: 

From the information recorded, analyse what key features wind turbines have to make them operate effectively and use computational thinking to create a sequence of steps to design and test a wind turbine on school grounds using a flowchart. In pairs, systems thinking should be used to design and detail all the mechanical elements that create an effective wind turbine in a diagram. Each group will therefore have two designs. Review the designs and decide which one will work best and justify the reasons for this design in a spider map. 

Producing: 

Each group is to make an operating wind turbine prototype using the materials safely and appropriately. Each group should test the prototype to see if it is working effectively using a fan and a length of the string (50cm) to see how quickly the string is wound up. A stopwatch should be used to record how long it takes to wind up the string. 

Each group will consider how to improve the wind turbine to make it wind the string up quicker, considering: 

• Blade size; 

• Blade shape; 

• Number of blades; 

• Materials 

Groups should re-test the improved prototype using the string and stopwatch and record results. 

Evaluating: 

Each group will take their final wind turbine prototype out onto school grounds and test it in different areas using the string and stopwatch to record results.  

Each group will prepare a SWAY presentation which includes: 

• A recommendation of whether a sustainable renewable energy source such as wind could be used to reduce the school's high electricity costs. 

• Justification to support this recommendation based on: 

  • Details of what a wind turbine is and how it operates and how they have been used in the past and present

  • The cost comparison of using wind power versus the current electricity costs 

  • The environmental impact of wind power versus traditional energy sources 

  • The testing of the prototype on school grounds and whether the conditions are appropriate for a wind turbine to operate effectively. 

• Participation pie showing the contribution of each group member with 2 bullet points from each student on the positive aspects of group work and 2 bullet points on what could be improved. 

You will be assessed according to the criteria outlined in the rubric found under the Evaluation section.  Be sure to use the rubric as a reference guide throughout your research, design and building phase to make sure you meet all necessary criteria.

During the literacy lesson this week, the class will be split into 4 groups to write an email to 'experts' on how to design a wind turbine and in the next technology lesson, groups are going to design a wind turbine.  

The four groups will write to: 

• Cassop Primary School – asking for advice on their 'windmill challenge' and any advice they can provide on creating a wind turbine prototype. 

• Parent newsletter – explaining the problem that we are trying to solve and if any parents can provide 'expert' design advice. The parents will also be asked to provide any recyclable materials that could be used by students in building a prototype (e.g. cardboard, plastic, straw, bamboo skewers etc). Any parent volunteers will be welcome to help in lessons supporting the design, build and testing phase. 

• Australian Engineering Company – Acciona Australia to explain our problem and if they can offer any design advice as they are global leaders in sustainable solutions for renewable energy projects. 

• Collgar Wind Farm - explain our problem and if they can offer any design advice as they have a significant wind farm in WA.

Rubric