TE WERO

OUR CHALLENGE

The world is continuing to increase its use of energy. Much of this energy is from non renewable sources. This is having an impact on our climate as more and more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

In New Zealand more than 80% of energy is generated from renewable sources, with wind being one of those sources. We need to find ways to harness even more power from the wind.

Your mission is to design a technology to harness the power of the wind.

SETTING THE SCENE

Emirates Team New Zealand are world leaders at developing technological solutions to harness the power of the wind.

Their design team spends their working days using the technological problem solving process to find ways to make the racing boats sail faster. And now they are trying to break the wind powered land speed record!

Listen carefully to the team as they discuss how they test and refine new ideas. There are clues in this video that you will be able to use to help you with your design.

SET THE SCENE

When the wind blows

Discovering wind

How can you see it? How do you know it is there? How is it recorded? What are tell-tale signs of the wind?

Learn

The need for speed

How do you measure the wind? Learners design and build an anemometer.

Learn

Which way wind

How do you know where the wind is coming from? Learners design and build a wind vane.

Learn

Wind and waves

Where do waves come from? What makes the water move? How do you measure waves?

Learn

A force to be reckoned with

Tāwhirimātea is howling

Who is Tāwhirimātea? What does he do? Learners create a dance to represent a type of wind.

Learn

Capturing wind

Why do sailors love the wind? How do they capture it? Learners design a wind sock to capture the wind.

Learn

Harvesting wind

How do wind turbines work? Where are wind farms in Aotearoa New Zealand? Learners design a pinwheel.

Learn

Power my car

How do blokarts use the wind? What is kinetic energy and friction? Learners design and test a sail car?

Learn

How sail boats work

Float your boat

What makes a boat float? Why do some boats sink? Learners design and make a clay boat and test its ability to float.

Learn

Sail power

How do sails work? Learners work out how to measure the perimeter and area of a sail.

Learn

Sail away

What are the parts of a sail boat? How do they work? Learners build, test and improve a model sail boat.

Learn

Up on the foils

How have sail boats changed over the years? How have these changes led to foils on boats? Learners design and test a simple foil

Learn

SAILING EXPERIENCE

We have set up Kōkōkaha providers around Aotearoa New Zealand to deliver a day long Kōkōkaha sailing experience to classes of up to 30 students. Watch the video below to get a feel for how sailing experiences integrate with the classroom experiences. Then go to our sailing experience page to get more detail about the sailing experience component of Kōkōkaha .

LEARN ABOUT WIND

There are three sets of classroom learning experiences and a sailing experience to help build the knowledge and skills you will need to design a technology to harness the wind. Use any combination of experiences and as many experiences as you like to get ready for the design process.

TAKE ACTION

Your mission is to design a technology to harness the power of the wind. There are three categories of design to choose from.

1. A wind sculpture

2. Using wind to power something

3. An innovation to make a yacht sail faster

Upload your designs to the Kōkōkaha ideas gallery to share them with other schools throughout New Zealand.

Upload your design

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TAKE ACTION

FEEL THE POWER OF WIND

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS

A FORCE T BE RECKONED WITH

HOW SAIL BOATS WORK