Making RENEWABLE Energy

 In Science, students built wind turbines from recycled materials.  The turbines had to have a theme, be stable structures and create electrical energy from the wind.  Turbines that created at least 2 volts of electricity were strong enough to light up a small light bulb.  The students did a great job!

Mr Robot generated enough electricity to turn on the light bulb.  

The Pineapple That Lives Under The Sea.
Students learned how to score cardboard to make it curved.

The Tree-a-nator.
Students added heavy objects to the base to make it stable.

Adding details to the Tower of Purr.

Students' projects evolved as they changed the size and shape of the blades to make them spin faster.

All the group members had special jobs to do.
There was a  Project Manager, an Engineer, a Materials Manager and a Designer.

The designer was responsible for the theme and all the details for the Pyramid of Pizza.

Wind Turbines

Here are the amazing wind turbines, designed, built and tested by 5D.  The students worked in groups to create a wind turbine that would take wind energy and transform it into electrical energy.  The turbine had to be a stable structure that could resist the force of the wind.  It also had to have a theme and be decorated as something interesting.  The students chose the materials that their turbines were built from and decided on the size, shape and number of blades.  They tested the strength of their turbines using a multi-metre to measure the volts.  Students then, revised their designs to make them more powerful and/or more stable.  Well done everyone!

Yummy

Vampire

Galaxy Spinner

Flame Devil

Pencil Destructor

Doggy

Lightning Bolt

Using The Force

Recently, we had a terrific field trip to TUSC greenhouse and I.T. lab to study forces acting on structures.

Students measured and recorded the size of different stems in the greenhouse.

They investigated the connections between the stem size and flexibility and the load each plant could carry.

They designed and tested how different leaf shapes withstood the wind.

They observed the internal structures of different stems and  made connections to  the  plants' ability to  be flexible and to carry different loads.

In the I.T. lab, they investigated how changing the shape of a material (paper) enables it to carry a heavier load (pennies).

They designed shapes that were the most stable.

They used all the information from the day to create and test stable bridge structures on the computer.

 Thank you to the wonderful Moms who came with us and helped us on our trip.

Wind Turbine Workshop

The TREC wind turbine workshop was this week.  Students worked in small groups to build and test wind turbine models to determine the amount of power generated by varying the number and type of blades.

Large fans were used to simulate wind.

Turbines were connected to multimeters to measure the amount of power generated.

New technology LED lights needed less power that the old incandescent lights. 

Starting this week, students are designing and building their own wind turbines with unique themes.

Exploring Organ Systems

We started our activity work stations in Science this week.  We are exploring different aspects of the skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems and how they are connected with each other. It's lots of fun!

Face tricks:  how do the different muscles control what we can do with our face?

Building a model of a spine.

Testing our lung capacity.

A Wonderful New Crop

Our wind turbines are finished!  They take wind energy and turn it into electrical energy.  Each turbine was designed and built by a small group of 4-5 students.  Each turbine also has a theme.  The students learned a lot about persevering when their blades kept falling off, and problem-solving by trying different materials to keep their structure steady.  They tested the power that their turbine was producing, and refined their turbines to make them spin more quickly.  Well done everyone!