To help educators bring renewable energy engineering to their classrooms, REcharge Labs is giving away 10 MacGyver Windmill Class Packs and 10 Solar Town Class Packs to deserving teachers. The lucky winners will then use their class packs to help teams of students enter the MacGyver Windmill Challenge or the Solar House Challenge, two of REcharge Labs’ year-round online design challenges. To enter the giveaway, educators must fill out the application and list why it is important for students to enter REcharge Labs’ Online Challenge. Educators must complete the application, found here, between Thursday, September 15, 2016 and Friday, September 30, 2016.

REcharge Labs hosts three Online Challenges each month – the MacGyver Windmill Challenge, the Solar House Design Challenge and the Wind Turbine Design Challenge. To enter, students must form a team, design and build a wind or solar device and upload their energy output data to the corresponding Online Challenge portal. Each month, REcharge Labs picks a winner based on the device’s energy output, as well as design creativity, and awards the team a $50 cash prize.

The MacGyver Windmill Class Pack, which serves 15 to 45 students in grades 6-12, comes with materials for 15 windmills. Students use these kits alone, or pair them with other common household materials, to master the engineering behind windmill blade design and build a functioning windmill that lifts weight. The Solar Town Class Pack, which is ideal for use with five to 15 students in grades 4-12, comes with materials for five solar powered houses. Students learn basic circuitry while wiring the houses with lights, motors, switches, and power storage devices. Teachers can use a single house to teach students about energy consumption and efficiency, and can then connect all of the houses to model the electrical grid.

“The Online Challenge fosters student-driven learning about renewable energy through a friendly design challenge,” said Asia Ward, Co-Director of REcharge Labs. “While our Online Challenge is free year-round for teams to enter, this giveaway will equip teachers with the tools to encourage students to get active in hands-on science.”

To learn more REcharge Labs’ Online Design challenge, visit: rechargelabs.org/online-challenge. To learn more about REcharge Labs’ other kits, visit: rechargelabs.org/store.