Land Yachts is an engaging project first run by the oz-Teachernet in 2007. In its first year of operation, it received a Highly Commended Award from ISTE, the International Society for Technology Education. 2008 is its second year of operation and we are hoping that school students and practising and pre-service teachers will again take part and enjoy this activity.

A Wind-powered Land Yacht is a small vehicle, constructed from recyclable materials and common household items, that is designed to run by wind power. The idea is adaptable to other environments - as seen in the Ice Yachts project.

Have a look at our snapshots page to see what a wind-powered "yacht" will look like in this challenge! Have a look at an excerpt from a 2007 blog!

Each "yacht" project will have a Big Race Day when videos will be made and uploaded to the site for others to share.

This challenge is open for students in Years 4-9, home schoolers are also welcome. This is not competitive and all entrants will receive a Certificate of Participation. Pre-service teachers are also welcome to participate and learn, at first hand, how teaching and learning can happen in online spaces.

The Challenge for your students:
In Learning Teams of three to four, students are to design and construct a Wind-powered Yacht. Each teams' yacht will be "raced" against other yachts. The goal is to design and construct a yacht that will travel the longest distance on Race Day.

During the construction phase of the challenge, each team will keep a blog of their progress and upload photos to share with the 'land yacht' community. Each team will also be required - as they engage in "working scientifically" - to gather and record data during the construction and testing of their yachts and share this data with other teams via the website.

This activity will address the key learning areas of Technology, Science, and Mathematics. Guidelines will be set for all students taking part in the challenge.

Although some aspects of the challenge will be public, you must be registered to take part in this project. To register for Land Yachts 2008, visit the project page and enter your details. We will approve this and add you to a dedicated teachers' email list for the project. Registration is now open and will remain open until the end of September.

Details of how to upload images and videos, to upload team test data and to participate in the Yacht-blogs will be made available to registered teams.