Robert Hammond, a 4-H parent with Bardsdale 4-H Club shares with us his experience with the 4-H SET (Science Technology and Engineering) program.
Did you know that using a pencil, a basic pinwheel made from paper, some tape, three paper clips, a piece of string and some wind (provided by household fan) that you could actually hoist a paper cup filled with about a dozen pennies, almost three feet off of the ground?
As a member of a small team, using the materials listed above, we were able not only to lift the pennies, we were able to compete with other teams to see which design could lift the most and perform in the fastest time. This was only one of the activities that took place at a workshop designed for 4-H Volunteers to learn how to facilitate or assist in leading a “Power of Wind” club project.
The workshop was intense (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday). It was an interactive and an activities-filled exploration of wind and its uses. Led by Dr. Cynthia Barnett, 4-H youth Development Advisor for San Bernardino County and Dr. Keith Nathaniel, 4-H Youth Development Advisor for Los Angeles County, the workshop was not only a wonderful learning experience, it was fun.
The Power of the Wind Curriculum is part of the National 4-H Curriculum Collection and is designed for middle-school-aged youth to learn about the wind and its uses. This project has young people work as a team to design, create, build, and test wind-powered devices and they are given opportunities to explore wind as a potential energy source in their community.
Part of 4-H SET (Science Engineering and Technology), the components of this program include: learning about and using the engineering design process, achieving scientific goals, unifying concepts across science curricula, participating in investigative, exploratory and challenge activities, using an engineering design notebook, learning questioning techniques, using scientific terms, finding out about careers as well as including an online component.
My family is new to 4-H (my eleven-year-old son joined the Bardsdale 4-H this past year), so I wasn’t expecting to do more than support his participation. We own on a small citrus ranch in the Fillmore area, and happened to become involved with wind power when we decided to convert our wind machine (for frost protection) to an energy producing wind turbine.
While I’m a novice to 4-H and to wind power, I spent 34 years as a teacher and administrator in public schools in California, and am impressed with the quality of the Wind Power program. Not only is it a great opportunity to learn useful skills, the hands on activities are fun. I am pleased to recommend the program and would be happy to help anybody interested in getting started.
This article is part of Cloverlines, our 4-H newsletter. These newsletters can be found on our office website.