Challenger Learning Center offers Wind Energy STEM series for Homeschool Students
NORMAL, IL, Oct. 13, 2026 – The Challenger Learning Center at Heartland Community College is offering an opportunity for homeschool students in grades 6-12 to engineer wind power.
Learn & Engineer Wind Power meets from 9 a.m. to noon on four Thursdays, Oct. 22, Oct. 29, Nov. 5, and Nov. 12, in Heartland’s Renewable Energy labs. Participants must attend all four sessions.
The program introduces students to hands-on STEM work and helps them form or prepare a team for the Challenger Learning Center’s regional KidWind Challenge in February.
Students work in teams with peers their own age, guided by a KidWind-certified facilitator. They learn the science of wind energy, see it at work on Heartland’s wind turbine, and move through the engineering design process over multiple rounds of building, testing, and improving model turbines.
Each of the four sessions builds on the one before it.
- Oct. 22, Introduction to Wind Energy. Students explore the science behind wind energy, tour Heartland’s wind farm, and learn about the college’s Renewable Energy program and the career pathways it offers.
- Oct. 29, Team Formation and Design. Students meet their teams, bond through wind-themed team-building activities, begin the engineering design process, and research ideas for their turbines.
- Nov. 5, Iterative Testing. Teams build and test their turbines, collect data and refine their designs through several rounds of the design process.
- Nov. 12, Mini KidWind Challenge. Teams compete in an on-campus challenge, present their turbines to a Heartland judge, and answer science questions, following the format of the February KidWind competition.
To register, visit www.heartland.edu/kids or contact the Challenger Learning Center at 309-268-8700 or clc@heartland.edu.
About the Challenger Learning Center at Heartland Community College
The Challenger Learning Center at Heartland Community College offers immersive STEM experiences for students in fifth through eighth grades, including simulated space missions and hands-on experiments that build critical thinking and teamwork. The center serves schools, organizations and homeschool groups and offers summer programs for kindergarten through eighth grade. It is located at 1500 W. Raab Road in Normal.
