Our final week of the WEngineer Weather Warriors academy ended with a blast! In our first session, students learned the basics of aerodynamics including lift, weight, drag, and thrust. The students watched a video describing airfoils and how air moves in relation to them. This helped the students understand aerodynamics and lift. Then, they participated in a glider challenge where they used their newfound knowledge to design gliders that would be launched from the launch pad. The students encountered many obstacles, but were able to apply their knowledge to the challenge.
At first attempt, the second session was postponed due to prospective inclement weather. However, despite said weather never appearing, the move turned out to be beneficial because the weather on the final day was beautiful! The students participated in a final challenge where they applied all of the concepts they had learned in prior sessions to a new challenge: students were given a sheet with questions that became progressively harder as they raced to answer the questions. The winning team, “Team I don’t know”, won the challenge with a score of 14.5 points out of 15 points. All of the teams did a superb job and the margin for error was razor-thin. Everyone was able to gain at least 13 out of the 15 points and a victor was narrowly declared by half a point! Next, the students participated in a rocket launch activity. Instructors used soda bottles, corks, and pins to build water rockets. The rockets were attached to launch pads powered by bicycle pumps. The students took turns using the pumps to launch the bottle rockets as they experimented with different amounts of water in the bottles. They were able to apply their knowledge of kinematics and pressure and watch it come to life! This was a great way to wind down after the intense final challenge, and the students had an amazing time outside in the great weather with the rockets.
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