Blowin' in the wind

Brookside Middle School students recently designed and built miniature windmills as part of their engineering technology class. The goal of the project was to demonstrate alternative-energy sources that could provide electric power. Each tower was unique, and a 20-inch fan simulated the wind.

“This was a complete ‘STEM’ activity because it incorporated science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said teacher Joel Kaplan in a release. “All the constraints and criteria of this project enabled the students to use the processes of problem solving, thinking and reasoning, along with the safe use of tools and machines. What better way for students to learn than to take an idea from planning to design and then construct a finished working model?”