Fly To Learn And Real World Design Challenge Promoting STEM Education

Fly To Learn, Powered by X-Plane and Real World Design Challenge have teamed together to promote aviation, engineering design opportunities to middle school and high school students preparing them in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Fly to Learn provides a middle school foundation in aviation, engineering design and provides X-Plane and PlaneMaker to middle schools. The Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) is a FREE national high school program that provides each teacher with $1 million in professional engineering software; mentors; webinars; teacher and student training; and curriculum materials, to help prepare students in aeronautical engineering and design of surface transportation vehicles. Both RWDC registration and Fly To Learn Aviation Challenge are still open.

Dr. Ralph K. Coppola, Director, Real World Design Challenge & Senior Director Government & Strategic Education Programs PTC, stated, “Fly To Learn provides the middle school students with the foundation for a stronger Real World Challenge team experience. Real World Design Challenge Team looks forward to working with the Fly To Learn staff.”

Fly To Learn, Powered by X-Plane, teaches S.T.E.M. concepts by making learning fun for middle students, grades 4-8, in a user-friendly format for teachers to implement. The program promotes STEM fundamentals through implementation of the flight simulator program, X-Plane. Students learn S.T.E.M. disciplines through the design, construction, flight, and performance evaluation of virtual airplanes, proving learning can be exciting and engaging. Curriculum aligns with Nationals Science Education Framework, National Standards, and Common Core Standards.

The Real World Design Challenge is an annual competition that provides high school students, grades 9-12, the opportunity to work on real world engineering challenges in a team environment. Each year, student teams will be asked to address a challenge that confronts our nation's leading industries. Students will utilize professional engineering software to develop their solutions and will also generate presentations that convincingly demonstrate the value of their solutions. The Real World Design Challenge provides students with opportunities to apply the lessons of the classroom to the technical problems that are being faced in the workplace.

FMI: www.flytolearn.com, www.realworlddesignchallenge.org