On Thursday 13 July the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology Year 9 School Dustbin
Windmill STEM Challenge Final was held at the EPIC Centre, Lincolnshire Showground –
EPIC centre lincolnshireshowground.co.uk/our-spaces/epic-centre.
This STEM Challenge was for Year 9 students to find out more about Wind as a power
source and recycling. Teams had 3 months to design, build and test a windmill made from
recycled materials and also submit a written paper reflecting on their employability skills
used and developed during the challenge. The Challenge started in April and the final
brought together teams to have their windmills tested to see how much power they could
produce and to test their design, build quality and use of recycled materials. The Challenge
was offered by the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology in partnership with the STEM
Ambassadors and Greater Lincolnshire LEP Careers Hub.
18 schools from across the region participated in the Challenge, with 16 reaching the final:
Casterton College Rutland
Lincoln Castle Academy Lincoln
Kesteven & Grantham Girls School Grantham
Ambergate Sports College Grantham
Bourne Grammar School Bourne
Bourne Academy Bourne
Boston Grammar School (2
teams) Boston
Giles Academy Boston
Cowley Academy Spalding
Spalding Academy Spalding
University Academy Holbeach Spalding
Healing Academy Grimsby
John Whitgift Academy Grimsby
Somercotes Academy Louth
Louth Academy Louth
Scunthorpe UTC Scunthorpe
At the final last week, the schools brought their dustbin windmills and went through the final
stages of the competition – assessing the aesthetics of the design; creative use of a wide
variety of waste materials (the proportion of the build which uses recycled materials); build
quality (ability to withstand high wind conditions); power generated across the range of wind
speeds (connected to a circuit with 10Ω resistance) and ability to cope with changing
direction (without manual intervention). Their scores together with their written assignment
scores produced the winners:
1 st Somercotes Academy (£500 prize to the school and £25 per student)
2 nd Kesteven and Grantham Girls School (£100 prize to the school and £15 per student)
Joint 3 rd Ambergate Sports Academy and Boston Grammar School (team 1). (£100 prize to
each school and £15 per student)
Lincolnshire Institute of Technology (LIoT) is a partnership of the University of Lincoln,
Grimsby Institute and University Centre, University Campus North Lincolnshire and North
Lindsey College, Lincoln College, Grantham College and University Centre, Boston College,
Riseholme College and Lincoln UTC. The focus is on higher level skills with students
studying level 3 to level 6 manufacturing and engineering, agritech, construction, digital or
motor vehicle qualifications. LIoT works with over 3000 employers in Lincolnshire and is
particularly supported by Bakkavor, OAL and Siemens. The Institute is one of a small
number of Institutes of Technology nationally, funded jointly by LIoT partners and the
Department of Education. www.institutesoftechnology.org.uk
Today’s major worldwide challenges include waste management and green energy. How do
we minimise the generation of waste and recycle any waste we create? How do we move to
environmentally safe generation of energy and minimise our carbon footprint and hence our
impact on the world’s climate? These challenges are being faced by governments and
industry globally and specifically within Lincolnshire.
Fantastic employment opportunities are available within the sectors and it is vital that young
people develop a sound awareness of the types of job roles available. Engineering,
construction including civil engineering, and a full range of support roles are based with
employers in our region as well as across the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber and the
North East.
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