New partnership provides students the opportunity to construct and test virtual turbines and wind farms using WhiteBox Learning
The KidWind Project, the international leader in clean energy education, is partnering with Flinn Scientific for the 2021 KidWind Simulation Challenge. In this challenge, students will use Flinn Scientific’s WhiteBox Learning web-based STEM learning system to virtually construct and test wind turbines and wind farms.
“We are very excited about this partnership and the opportunity to reach students virtually,” said Michael Arquin, founder of KidWind. “Many KidWind Challenges this year are being held online and this is an affordable opportunity for students to explore wind energy design in an engaging and safe manner. While we would love to have students explore real turbines, in some cases that is not possible this year, this simulation really does a fantastic job teaching students important design concepts related to wind energy systems.”
The KidWind Simulation Challenge allows students to build and test a simulated turbine using WhiteBox Learning online software. This virtual turbine can also be used as stand in for a physical turbine for team entries to many of this year’s regional online KidWind Challenges.
“We have long admired KidWind for challenging students with the engineering design process,” said Michael Lavelle, CEO of Flinn Scientific. “The pandemic brought our two organizations together to come up with a solution to keep students engaged in STEM activities even when they can’t be together. We look forward to seeing what students accomplish this year in the KidWind Challenge and offer our continued support to STEM educators who are working to make a difference in students’ lives.”
The simulation is appropriate for middle and high school students. Teams of up to five students with a coach, who will also be the primary contact for the team, can now register for the KidWind Simulation Challenge here. Once the team registration is approved, the coach will receive access codes to share with each student. These codes will allow each student to individually access the WhiteBox Learning software through June 30, 2021.
Top performing teams participating in the 2021 KidWind Simulation Challenge will be invited to participate in the 2021 National KidWind Challenge. Top performing teams from regional events will also be invited to the National KidWind Challenge that will be held virtually in June of 2021.
This challenge was made possible through generous contributions from National Renewable Energy Laboratory and EDP Renewables.
For more information about the 2021 KidWind Simulation Challenge, visit: www.kidwind.org/online-challenge/simulation.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
