The Power of Clean Energy Education!

The KidWind Project has been working with educators to integrate clean energy into classrooms for 20 years.
As the world is increasingly powered by clean energy, it is more critical than ever that we develop a workforce and public who understand the complexities of this new power generation.

Our Mission

KidWind’s mission is to empower educators and students to explore and engage with the challenges and opportunities of a clean powered future.


Our primary goal is to help students find their place in a clean powered future and help the public to better understand the impacts of clean power on all aspects of their lives. We know that the two primary challenges facing clean energy adoption are the lack of a knowledgeable and skilled clean energy workforce and public opposition to clean energy development.

We seek to address these challenges by working with educators within current frameworks to increase their capacity to teach about a wide range of clean energy concepts.  

To accomplish this, we do three things:

  • Curricular Material Development: Create and support affordable, robust, and innovative educational materials to bring clean energy to life in the classroom.
  • Teacher Training: Ensure that all educators understand and have the capacity to educate their students about a clean energy future.
  • KidWind Challenge: Provide spaces for students to demonstrate their knowledge, skill, creativity, and passion for clean energy to their communities, industry and the wider public.
Support KidWind

Board of Directors

The Kidwind Project is a program of Gale Force Education

Virginia

Remy Pangle

REpowering Schools/JMU
Executive Director
Oregon

Jake Hopkins


South Carolina

Ray Alls


California

David Munoz Andrade

KidWind Mexico
Virginia

Jamie Mears

Orsted
Senior Associate of Project Development
Oregon

Bevan Augustine

RWE
Texas

Adam Renz

Pattern Energy
Senior Developer

Erin Kirton


Washington

Douglas Ferguson


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The REcharge Network

Once an educator attends a REcharge Academy, they are considered a REcharge Instructor for life and become part of our extended family! Instructors may just incorporate lessons and curriculum into their own classrooms, or they may go further and work with local schools and districts to share the resources they’ve explored or train other teachers in wind and solar.
Learn more

Our History

A brief timeline of KidWind, from it's basement beginnings to its reach for the stars.

2003

Humble Beginnings
With an initial investment of $1,000 and a fellowship at the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University, co-founder Michael developed a new approach to educating the world about wind energy.
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2004

A Challenge
The very first KidWind Challenge was held in a science classroom in Monterey, CA.

Breeze to a Gale

We held our first educator workshops in ME, VT, MA & NY. They were a hit and we were off and running. The demand for training and outreach quickly overwhelmed our capacity and we realized that we needed to build a much larger team of trainers.
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2008

A Dream

In the summer of 2008, we held our first master trainers workshop called Wind Senators. The goal of Wind Senators was to train two educators from every state to help us teach the world about Wind. Eventually this would evolve into our current annual REcharge Academy that in 2023 had 70 attendees! Over the years, over 500 educators have attended this training and are actively teaching thousands of students and other educators each year.
Wind Senators 2008

2003 - Humble Beginnings

With an initial investment of $1,000 and a fellowship at the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University, co-founder Michael developed a new approach to educating the world about wind energy.

2004 - A Challenge

The very first KidWind Challenge was held in a science classroom in Monterey, CA.

2004 - Breeze to a Gale

We held our first educator workshops in ME, VT, MA & NY. They were a hit and we were off and running. The demand for training and outreach quickly overwhelmed our capacity and we realized that we needed to build a much larger team of trainers. In the summer of 2008, we held our first master trainers workshop called WindSenators. The goal of WindSenators was to train two educators from every state to help us teach the world about Wind. As of 2019, over 480 educators have attended this training and are actively teaching thousands of students and other educators each year.

2004 - Kits & Materials

The first kits were shipped from the headquarters of Michael’s basement in Arlington, MA. From there things just got bigger and bigger. By 2012, KidWind had a massive warehouse, 25 employees and we were shipping thousands of classroom kits each year.

2009 - Ain't No Passing Craze

KidWind Challenge events have been successfully implemented in 30 states, with roughly 40,000 students competing in 300 events across the country.

2011 - Wind to the Wise

We released our flagship curriculum WindWise. This was produced with a grant from NYSERDA and developed in partnership with Pandion (now Normandeau Associates). This has been updated with small grants over National Renewable Energy Lab and other partners over the years.

2014 - Materials, Elevated

KidWind partnered with Vernier Software and Technology and they graciously took over the production and delivery of KidWind products. We continue to work with Vernier to develop robust educational kits, probes, and materials to help students engage with renewable energy and the related STEM concepts.

Vernier is the largest financial supporter of the KidWind Challenge and donate 5% of every dollar they make on KidWind products to support the Challenge and related projects.

2015 - REcharge Academy

In 2015, KidWind launched a new project with Asia Ward called REcharge Labs. REcharge Labs was started to develop a new suite of resources that would allow all learners (K-College) to more creatively explore wind and solar power by blending the art and science around renewable energy.

REcharge Labs developed an amazing set of lessons and kits that helped students to construct houses, cars, fountains that were powered by the wind and sun. In 2019, REcharge Labs closed as Asia moved on to found an art focused conservancy and Michael refocused his efforts around the KidWind Challenge. All of the REcharge Labs lessons and materials are now owned by KidWind and can be found here.

2021-2022 - Reimagining the Future

Our Challenge season had us back in person after a difficult few years: 23 KidWind Challenges in 15 states and Mexico! 37 Educator Training Events with over 500+ teachers trained 500+ Online Challenge Submissions

Become a Sponsor today!

From coast to coast, we sponsor events for kids to learn about solar. Find one to join or start an event yourself!
Learn more →

2009

Ain't No Passing Craze
The first kits were shipped from the headquarters of Michael’s basement in Arlington, MA. From there things just got bigger and bigger. By 2012, KidWind had a massive warehouse, 25 employees and we were shipping thousands of classroom kits each year.
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2014

Wind to the Wise
We released our flagship curriculum WindWise. This was produced with a grant from NYSERDA and developed in partnership with Pandion (now Normandeau Associates). This has been updated with small grants over National Renewable Energy Lab and other partners over the years - and we are about to launch a big update in 2024!
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Shop Coming Soon!

KidWind partnered with Vernier Software and Technology to take over the production and delivery of KidWind products. We continue to work with Vernier to develop robust educational kits, probes, and materials to help students engage with clean energy and the related STEM concepts.

Vernier is the largest financial supporter of the KidWind Challenge and donate 5% of every dollar they make on KidWind products to support the Challenge and related projects.

2015

REcharge Labs

In 2015, KidWind launched a new project with Asia Ward called REcharge Labs. REcharge Labs was started to develop a new suite of resources that would allow all learners (K-College) to more creatively explore wind and solar power by blending the art and science around clean energy.


REcharge Labs developed an amazing set of lessons and kits that helped students to construct houses, cars, fountains that were powered by the wind and sun. In 2019, REcharge Labs closed as Asia moved on to found an art focused conservancy and Michael refocused his efforts around the KidWind Challenge. All of the REcharge Labs lessons and materials are now owned by KidWind and can be found here.

2021 - 22

Reimagining the Future
Our Challenge season had us back in person after a difficult few years: 23 KidWind Challenges in 15 states and Mexico! 37 Educator Training Events with over 500+ teachers trained 500+ Online Challenge Submissions
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