Case study 5
Paper wind turbines
This simple idea was probably the most successful project yet. The students were split into approximately 5 groups of 16, each group were assigned a room and science teacher as supervisor. These large groups were subdivided into 4 x4 small groups who were given 10 sheets of paper, a glue gun, some scissors a couple of drinking straws and some cotton thread. Each room was also supplied with a mains powered electric fan.
The idea was to build turbine capable of lifting 100g from the floor to the table, the team building the turbine that did the job fastest won the day. The task was complex and interesting enough to occupy all the students for the whole day and fun was had by all including the soon to be prime minister of Norway who popped in for a visit.