Wind Tunnels and Wonder: A Hands-On STEM Adventure

The group of girls enthusiastically returned to the Discovery Science & Technology Centre on Tuesday for the start of Term 2 of the Girls in STEM Club program. This week, they quite literally took to the air—or at least, their creations did—as they delved into the fascinating world of aerodynamics. The session focused on understanding how key principles such as weight, surface area, and balance work together when designing objects that can float or fly. It was a hands-on, minds-on exploration that sparked curiosity and creativity from the very start.

Using recycled materials and plenty of imagination, the girls teamed up in groups of three or four to tackle the challenge: design an object that could float inside a wind tunnel for at least one minute. The room buzzed with excitement, filled with laughter and the hum of focused collaboration as ideas quickly took flight. Paper wings, plastic bottle fins, and string stabilisers came together in inventive and often unexpected ways, showcasing both creativity and problem-solving in action.

Once the initial goal was achieved, the challenge intensified. Each team was tasked with testing their design across multiple wind tunnels, each set to a different speed.  This required teams to revisit their designs by tweaking, rebalancing, and sometimes rebuilding, to adapt to the new conditions.  Some creations soared with ease, while others struggled, but every attempt brought new insights and a deeper understanding of the principles at play.

The final challenge was by far the most ambitious: to create a flyer capable of reaching the roof. Excitement filled the air as teams made their final adjustments, and cheers erupted when one or two designs soared higher than anyone expected, thanks to clever modifications and sheer determination. It was a day powered by curiosity, teamwork, and hands-on experimentation, a perfect blend of learning and fun.