The Wind Regatta Activities come from " A World in Motion" lesson plan packet developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
These lesson plans are free to all teachers of grades 4-6 . We highly recommend that you contact SAE to get your own packet of lesson plans. You will need to have your school's address to get a registration packet for the "World in Motion" lesson plans. There is a "World in Motion II: The Design" lesson plan packet that has recently been developed for students in grades 7-9 .
The Wind Regatta is actually a series of activities. Each activity leads the RISE girls through a series of design questions; The final goal is the design and building of a wind skimmer that will win a regatta.
The first activity covers concepts dealing with force and motion, whereas
the second activity deals with the principles of friction and motion.
Throughout all the activities, the girls are asked to do at least three trials and then average the results.
Concepts covered in the other activities are air resistance, air and its ability to create motion, mass and balance to determine the stability of the wind skimmer, and finally the practical application of the building of the wind skimmer for the regatta.
The activities come on laminated lesson plan cards with excellent graphics and corresponding student activity sheets.
The questions and activites presented in "A World of Motion" are designed to promote creative thinking and problem solving skills. There are three levels, each level providing for new concepts and the reinforcement of older concepts. Each level ends in a competition such as in level one the development of a wind skimmer to race in a regatta.
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