Ideas Abound At FAA Program

Aerospace education was quite the draw at the 2007 Women in Aviation annual conference in Orlando, FL Thursday, bringing together nearly 100 teachers and others with an interest in sharing their love of aviation and aerospace with young people.

Participant Julie MacKay of Coronna, MI, came to the workshop looking for new ideas to bring to her classroom. A fourth grade math and science teacher who is also the education director of the Owosso, MI, Airport Association, her goal is to acquire more ideas for both the classroom and the local airport, where she brings student classes for on-site learning experiences. And ideas she got!

Sponsored by the FAA's Education group, the program, "Flight Plan for Opening Young Minds," focused on the agency's S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) theme, bringing new ideas and programs to those who want to inspire today's youth.

"We hope these educators will leave with a pocketful of inspiring ideas for the classroom," said National Program Manager Sheila Bauer, adding they will learn more about the program's partners and be able to use them in the classroom.

For those unable to attend, Bauer spoke about online educational resources at www.faa.gov/education that anyone can access, as well as the nine Aviation and Space Education Program managers who are resources for educators in specific regions of the country.

"We want to spread the word to all," she said.

Spreading the word also involves continuing to expand partnerships with those organizations with similar goals. Said Bauer, "We need to partner to enlarge the pipeline of students with aerospace STEM degrees."

Jim Flood, a ninth grade science teacher in Winter Park, FL was one of a handful of men in attendance. In his experience teaching science, he said, "stuff that leaves the ground" is most interesting to his students. With a nod to all the ideas he was collecting in the workshop, he added, "The more information I have to use in the classroom, the better off I am."

One of the resources presented was NASA's Smart Skies, which uses an Air Traffic Simulator to teach Distance-Rate-Time Problems to grades 5-9,  and Fly By Math, where students become excited doing hands-on interactive activities, including being an air traffic controller and tracking and determining how two to six planes can get to their destination Sector 33.

During the 2006 fiscal year, said Bauer, more than 14,000 students, 6,000 educators, and 150,000 members of the general public were impacted by the agency's outreach programs.

Added Amy Corbett (above), regional administrator for the New England Region, "We need to pay attention (to science, technology, engineering and math) in our country so we can continue to compete worldwide."

FMI: www.faa.gov/education, www.smartskies.nasa.gov