Library Workshops Review: Understanding Wind’s Dual Nature

Over the past two workshops, our young scientists explored wind’s fascinating dual role: how it can an be both constructive and destructive, both pushing away and pulling toward us through two hands-on experiments.

Workshop 1: Mini Wind Turbine Engineering – Capturing Wind Power

Our young engineers built working wind turbines to see renewable energy in action. By assembling the parts themselves, they learned how wind energy converts into electricity: wind pushes the blades, which spin a motor, creating electricity that lights an LED.

Workshop 2: DIY Vacuum Cleanup Challenge

Things got competitive fast! Kids raced to clean up tissue scraps from boxes filled with LEGO obstacles, using mini vacuums they built. The challenge? Keeping suction strong while moving around the LEGO pieces, which pushed them to solve problems on the fly.

It was great watching them troubleshoot—adjusting angles to reach tricky spots or trying different distances when suction weakened.

What We Saw Overall

Kids moved from basic assembly questions like "Where does this go?" to real scientific thinking, asking "What if I change the distance?" or "Why won’t it work backward?" They weren’t just memorizing facts, but were testing ideas like engineers, making guesses and trying things out through play.

These moments of genuine discovery show how hands-on STEM activities build scientific thinking and real curiosity. This experimental approach is exactly what we want to encourage for future STEAM learning.