PORTLAND, Maine — Maine students can always look forward to a field trip as an excuse to get out of the classroom. While some kids did leave school Thursday, they spent the day at the Portland Ocean Gateway, getting a unique hands-on lesson.
The KidWind Challenge is a nationwide competition where students work in small engineering groups to design, build, and test model wind turbines.
“There’s a lot of fun involved and a lot of hard work and a lot of tinkering and a lot of frustration, and that motivation keeps them going," Maine KidWind Challenge director Gus Goodwin said.
Goodwin said this is the first time Maine students have gathered for this event since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools from across the state competed in Thursday's challenge and the winners in the middle and high school divisions will advance to the national KidWind challenge in Boulder, Colorado, which will be held in May.
The students were able to hook up their turbines and track how much power they generated in a modified wind tunnel.
Sandy Bickford, a STEM teacher at Mt. Ararat Middle School, brought some of her eighth-grade students Thursday.
“With education you want things to be relevant, you want them to be current, and wind energy is current and relevant," she added.
Bickford acknowledged she could only teach her students so much in the classroom, so opportunities like this event can help open their eyes to future career opportunities in the engineering field.
“Who knows how many of these kids will become engineers, but at least they know what they do and how they do it," she said.
Students were able to test their wind turbines, make changes, and test them again before recording their final results with the judges. They also had to share their design process in a presentation.
The event also featured speakers from the University of Maine to give the students a better understanding of wind power and how the industry can grow in their own backyard.