A Principles of Flight educator workshop was held at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s education office located at the AERO Institute in Palmdale, California, on Wednesday, March 11.
Regional teachers participated in the professional development workshop presented by education specialist Barbie Buckner. The inquiry-based workshop addressed aeronautics and energy transfer as well as motions and forces. Educators engaged in hands-on, standards-aligned activities that demonstrated the Bernoulli principle of fluid dynamics.
“This is the second workshop in the “NASA is With You When You Fly” series providing educators with hands-on experience to learn the various aspects of aeronautics that can connect back to their classrooms,” Buckner said. “This workshop provided an opportunity for teachers to understand the NASA research happening in their own backyard and gave them an even greater framework to use the Bernoulli principle.”
The workshop featured Armstrong’s Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) project as part of the “NASA is With You When You Fly” series of educator workshops designed to introduce the agency’s aeronautics “Museum in the Box” curriculum.
Museum in a Box has hands-on aeronautics lesson plans and activities that are tied to kindergarten through grade 12 national education standards. Topics include forces and motion, Bernoulli’s principle, propulsion, history of flight and other flight-related concepts.
The ACTE project is a joint effort between NASA and the U. S. Air Force Research Lab, using Armstrong’s Gulfstream III as the test bed. The project is researching whether the FlexSys’ flexible trailing-edge wing flaps can both improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce airport-area noise generated during takeoffs and landings.
Buckner provided an overview of the ACTE project including the variable geometry control surface technology. Videos demonstrated the structural loads testing and maneuvers that were flown to provide baseline data for comparison after the flexible flaps were installed.
“Thank you for such a ‘stem-ulating’ workshop,” said Maria Blue, a teacher from Emblem Academy in Saugus, California. “The lessons and activities are so engaging and easy to use. I have shared them with our whole staff including our special education classes. I had so much fun at the workshop and couldn’t believe when time was up! I look forward to the next one.”
