A Principles of Flight educator workshop was held at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Office of Education’s Resource Center located at the AERO Institute in Palmdale, California, on Wednesday, January 21.
Twenty regional teachers participated in a professional development workshop that was presented by education specialist Barbara Buckner along with subject matter expert, Sam Kim, integrated test and evaluation engineer for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System (UAS in the NAS).
“Learning about the parts of an airplane and the four forces is foundational for flying,” Buckner said.” I’m excited to kick off the new education workshop series. The opportunity for educators to hear directly from Sam Kim as he shared about UAS In the NAS provided insight into the research and advancements going on right now at Armstrong.”
The workshop featured the UAS in the NAS project as a first in the “NASA is With You When You Fly” series of educator workshops that are designed to introduce the agency’s aeronautics “Museum in the Box” curriculum as well as highlights from various missions at the center.
Museum in a Box is an aeronautics hands-on lesson plan and activities that are tied to Kindergarten through 12th grade national education standards. Topics include forces and motion, Bernoulli’s Principle, propulsion, history of flight, and other flight-related concepts.
Kim gave an overview and status of the UAS in the NAS project and showed the teachers animations of how the nation’s airspace works. He also discussed how the Ikhana flies in the nation’s airspace currently and the envisioned more routine access in the future.
The workshop also informed teachers about aeronautics and the fundamentals of aerodynamics. Educators explored parts of an airplane and completed activities that allowed them to experience the pitch, roll, and yaw of a plane and to learn about the four forces of flight: lift, drag, weight and thrust.
“I teach at a STEM school that focuses on technology and science,” said Marie Wheeler from Gregg Anderson Academy in Palmdale. “The knowledge I gained last night will be passed on to my students to think about the aerospace field. I will use the activities we did in class during our STEM Friday activities.”
