Turbines from Scratch
Published: March 5, 2010
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From left: Tyler Piatt, Tyler Stracham, JJ Rojenches, Kyle Cosgrove and Matt Clum. Teacher William Freeman advised the team.
Students from Lakeland High School won “best presentation” at the third annual Pennsylvania Project Lead the Way (PLTW) design challenge. The were one of 16 teams of five who arrived at Goggleworks Center for The Arts in downtown Reading with no idea what they were going to design, build and demonstrate to an outside panel of judges from Cartech in Reading. At 8:30 a.m., all teams received a box of identical construction materials and a design challenge brief. The challenge this year: design and build functioning wind turbines using only the materials given. Construction materials consisted of items such as a small DC motor, gears and a gear box, rubber bands, wooden dowels, paper clips, glue sticks and other similar items. All teams had just two-and-a-half hours to complete the project and prepare a short presentation and demonstration. It was the first year Lakeland students had participated in the competition.
