Kids hiding under desks isn't usually a good thing, but sometimes it is. As the countdown to the wind turbine experiment at Rockwell Elementary School in Bristol neared its climax, the fourth-grade students found themselves under their desks, waiting to see if their project would succeed or fail. 

Dozens of Roger Williams University students are currently teaching 176 fourth-graders at Bristol elementary schools to build working wind turbines through KidWind, a program that connects RWU's engineering and education students with local schools. The initiative offers real-world teaching experience while helping meet STEM requirements. Now in its sixth year, KidWind has reached more than 1,000 children. 

Austin Czarnecki, an engineering student at Roger Williams University who has been working with the fourth-graders at Rockwell, began the first experiment of the day, asking, “Are you ready for the countdown?” The students, still hiding under their desks, counted in sync with him, shouting, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.” When the fan turned on and the turbine worked, the kids jumped out from under the desks, unable to contain their excitement. 

Not all the students hid under their desks. A second group of kids watched as Caitlin Brennan, an education student from Roger Williams University, attached their cardboard blades to the base of a KidWind kit. The kids’ task was to design blades capable of producing energy based on the wind. Each group had to design and test multiple sets of blades. 

For Czarnecki’s group, the previous class hadn’t gone well. “The shape of the blades was too small,” Czarnecki said. “This time, there's a really big difference,” he shared, smiling. His comment acknowledged the children's excitement over the success of the experiment, and perhaps their anticipation of having to hide under their desks if it failed again. 

Meanwhile, Brennan’s group was busy experimenting with different blade sizes. After testing small and medium-sized blades, both of which failed, student Tyler Cormack eagerly said, “I’m excited to try out the big ones.” 

The students gathered around the KidWind base, which now had the large blades attached, and waited for Brennan to turn the fan on high. “Are we ready to test again?” Brennan asked. Cormack yelled, “We want redemption from last week!” 

The fan was turned on, but despite the blades’ efforts to spin, they didn’t work. 

The kids tried to figure out why the blades had failed. “I think they were too close together,” Logan Armillotto offered. “I think they were too big,” Cormack suggested. 

When asked why the experiment was being conducted in the first place, the kids initially seemed stumped but soon started looking through their notes. Cormack quickly chimed in, saying, “It has to do with motion.” Another student shouted, “Energy!” The teacher of the class, Mrs. Marie Puzzo, smiled and said, “You're on the right track, but what does the wind produce?” 

“Electricity,” shouted both Cormack and Armillotto in unison, proudly, as they were eager to find the answer.

With a smile from ear to ear, Puzzo said, “This is the best fourth-grade class ever.” She added that the KidWind program provides a perfect segue into the next science unit, which begins on Monday —  focusing on energy transfer.