• Six minute TED video featuring a young farmer from Malawi who taught himself how to engineer windmills to help his family as they struggled through famine. 
• This is a great accompanying piece to any learning activity that is focused on perseverance through climate impacts, the use of recycled materials, a young person's sheer will to learn, or the power of innovation in the face of difficulties.  

Positives

• Inspiring story of creativity, resilience, and imagination.
• Extension activities opportunities to follow up this video are plentiful.

Additional Prerequisites

• Not a firm prerequisite by any means but it may be helpful if your students know the basic function of a windmill or wind generation of electricity ahead of watching the video. It just gives some additional context but is in no way a must.

Differentiation

• If your students are interested in learning where wind energy is used around the world, they can check out this interactive resource.
• There are a ton of opportunities to differentiate the use of this video depending on how the learning activities are designed. Here are some ideas for extension activities:
  • Activate Student Thinking: The innovation and sheer will to solve a problem in the face of adversity that is featured in this video is remarkable. Perhaps pose this scenario/question to your students: "Think of a problem that your family/community/school currently faces. What might you design to help move that problem towards a solution, as William did in the video?"
  • Scavenger Hunt: The search for construction materials is a key feature of William's story. Consider asking your students to look for materials in their homes or communities that are discarded but might be repurposed into something useful to solve a problem.Activate Student Thinking: The innovation and sheer will to solve a problem in the face of adversity that is featured in this video is remarkable. Perhaps pose this scenario/question to your students: "Think of a problem that your family/community/school currently faces. What might you design to help move that problem towards a solution, as William did in the video?"

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.