0
  • No products in the cart.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Young William Kamkwamba must leave school and abandon his formal education because his family can no longer pay the tuition. As the drought and resulting famine in Malawi continue, his family, like others, comes close to starvation. This true story shows how Williams’s resourcefulness provided a solution for his family and eventually for his village: a wind turbine to bring water to the fields.

$0

- +

Product Description

Film rating: Not rated. Common Sense Media rates The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind as appropriate for ages 12+.

Film runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Grade levels: We recommend the film for Grades 6 and up.

Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix.

Literary connection: For a film-book pairing, teach the film with the book it was based on: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, also available in Young Readers and Picture Book editions.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Curriculum Guide

Lesson 1: The Environmental Crisis (Environmental Science)
Lesson 2: Wind Power: History and Engineering (Engineering, World History)
Lesson 3: Generating Electricity: Dollar Store Physics (Physics)
Lesson 4: The Character of William Kamkwamba (English Language Arts)
Lesson 5: Film as Literature: Understanding Tone (English Language Arts, Film Studies) – The Glossary of Film Terms linked below is valuable for this lesson. 
Lesson 6: Helping the Children of Malawi (Economics, Social Studies, Service Learning)

Preview Curriculum Guide

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Discussion Guide
  • About the Film 
  • Meeting William
  • What about You? Getting Involved

Preview Discussion Guide

Glossary of Film Terms

The Glossary of Film Terms is useful for the Film Literacy lessons that are part of this curriculum guide.

Preview Glossary of Film Terms

How to download your free resources
1. At the top of the page, click “Add to Cart”. 2. Check out.  3. Download.
Related Resources

Teaching about the Environment? The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is part of our Environmental Studies Lessons Collection.

Webinar: Learn more about teaching with this film with our free, on-demand, PD-credit webinar at Share My Lesson: Engineering and Activism: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwamba.

Video Librarian features this film in several articles:

Sign up for our newsletter
Don’t miss out! Get notifications about new resources. Sign up for our newsletter.
Sustainable Development Goals

Journeys in Film supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about teaching with UN SDGs. This resource connects to the following SDGs.

Dark yellow background. 2 in the upper left hand corner. Zero Hunger next to the number. Primary art is a white bowl with steam rising out of it. Deep red square with a white 4 in the upper left-hand corner. Quality Education, in white text, beside the number, and a book and pencil, white stencil style, is the focus art on the red background. Bright yellow background. 7 in white in upper left hand corner. Affordable and clean energy beside the number. A white sun with a power button on it is the key art in the image. Dark pink background. 10 in the left-hand corner. Reduced Inequalities beside the number. Central image on the pink background is a not quite complete circle with equal marks inside. Dark green background color. 13 in the upper left hand corner. Climate Action beside that. Central image on the green background is a white eyeball with what looks like the earth inside of it.

You may also like…

Related Products

FacebookInstagramLinkedIn