Coaches
Who is a Coach?
A coach is anyone who is motivated enough to help a student or a team of students build a wind turbine and upload their results! Coaches can be classroom teachers, mentors, enthusiastic parents, grandparents or a big sister or brother. The KidWind Challenge welcomes all ability levels, so don’t be afraid to join!
While you do not need to be a wind energy expert, as a coach it is your responsibility to make sure you understand the rules and guidelines for the Web Competition. Note that the rules are little different than the National KidWind Challenge.
Please help your team get the materials they need to accomplish their project and make sure your students have the space and guidance they need to SAFELY build and test a small wind turbine.
How do I get started?
1. Download and READ the rules. It is very important that you understand the rules and guidelines. This tells you all sorts of things, such as what materials you can use to build your turbine, how big it can be, how it will be evaluated. It’s all in there – so please read it. If you have a question please send us a note at any time to info(at)kidwind.org.
2. Get some materials and start building a turbine. While we have lots of goodies at the KidWind Shop to help you as you build a sweet turbine, you don't need them to succeed. Take a look at the National Challenge picture gallery to see some of the great designs that students come up with. You may find yourself inspired!
3. COLLECT some data about your turbine performance. Please refer to our turbine performance calculator.
4. UPLOAD data on your turbine to the KidWind Challenge website.
5. COMPETE and vote for your favorite turbine via facebook!
Are there free materials?
Currently we do not have sponsorship to offer free materials for the KidWind Challenge – Web Competition. It does not cost anything to participate, and we have seen students build great turbines from junk around the classroom. If you are interested, we do offer some packages for teachers and students to help you get started. These kits include basic items like some generators, hubs, resistors, multimeters etc. Check out the teacher kit and student kit. You will still need to find materials to build towers, blades etc.
Need related lesson plans and other info?
Our entire WindWise curriculum is available online for FREE! Check out the lessons on turbines and blade design, or building a generator as this will give you some guidance in those critical areas. Other units in the WindWise curriculum can be helpful as you work to understand some of the larger impacts and issues surrounding wind energy.
Also check out our Wind Energy Science Fair Kit document – it has lots of good ideas and tips on building a wind turbine.
The turbine tips area has a great deal of information about building a small turbine.
Is there teacher or coaches training?
For our national challenge we try to offer a pre-training workshop to help coaches and teachers learn more about wind energy and distribute free gear and equipment. These are great opportunities to help get your team and yourself ready for any of the KidWind Challenges. Head here to see if there is a workshop in your area.
Are there prizes for winners?
Once a month we will offer prizes in each age category of the KidWind Challenge – Web Competition. The grand prize is $100 and free T-shirts. The most popular turbine (most liked on facebook) will receive $50 and free T-shirts.