Helping 4th graders learn about wind power!

One of my outreach activities is visiting local schools with KidWind kits. I give them a short lecture on energy, then renewable energy, then wind energy in particular. Then I have them cut wind turbine blades out of card stock and mount them into plastic hubs. We connect them to a multimeter, hold the model turbines in front of a fan, and see how much power they make in the "wind".



I love kids in 40-minute doses! My hat's off to teachers who do this 40+ hours per week. If I were a K12 teacher, I'd probably be in danger of alcoholism.



In the midst of this chaos, this particular teacher stepped back, smiled at all of the screaming mess around her, and sighed happily. She turned to me and said, "Don't you just LOVE this? Kids getting all excited about science?" And I had to admit that I loved the *concept* but not so much being present for the *implementation*. However, I am truly grateful that I had the privilege of seeing her joy. Clearly, that is her thing, and the world is an indescribably better place for teachers like her!