Students 'MacGyver' their way to success

NORWALK — The spotlight was on Main Street School at Tuesday night's Norwalk City Schools board meeting. Marcy Burns, a fifth-grade science and arts and language teacher, and Scott Spettle, the school's STEM teacher, talked about this year's big project — the MacGyver Wind Lift Challenge. "So engaged in what they are doing," Principal Dan Bauman told the board about the Ohio Energy Project. "Working as a team and their minds are working a mile in the minute." "All 50 of our students participated … in class and online," Burns said. "The goal was for the kids to design, given the materials given, to develop a wind-lift system to lift as many pennies as possible." Each penny weighs two grams, Burns said, noting two of the teams had designs that lifted 166 pennies or 332 grams. "The fifth-grade students applied their science thinking of balanced and unbalanced forces," Burns said. "They also considered how force and weight affect the motion of an object as they designed their wind lifts. "Students were introduced to The Wind Lift Challenge and learned about wind turbines by attending a virtual tour on the One Energy Wind Farm near Findlay, Ohio, in December. After that tour, students eagerly awaited the arrival of the big box of materials." Once students received their materials, this is what they did next: • Over the course of three days, the students used what they learned about the giant wind turbine blades at the wind farm to construct their designs. Students could be overheard talking about pitch and shape of the blades that would capture the force of the wind best as they considered, tested and revised their designs, Burns said. "It is always amazing to see the collaboration and great science that fifth-graders can do," she said. • The results … the wind lifts were able to raise between 20 pennies/40 grams and 70 pennies/140 grams. But there were two designs that proved to be powerful lifters with 166 pennies/332 grams. • Part of the requirement for participating in The Wind Lift Challenge was for teachers to submit projects to the KidWind Project Portal and submit photos and videos to OEP (Ohio Energy Project) to show the students at work.