Aerospace engineering and wind turbines

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Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM/engineering clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Engineering.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Marianna Maiaru, of the Windstar Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US, who is using her expertise in aerospace engineering to understand how to repair damaged wind turbine blades in the shortest possible time.

This resource also contains an interview with Dr Maiaru.

The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ to prompt students to reflect on Dr Maiaru’s research and poses the ‘Coffee Cup Turbine’ challenge.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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