CAP Resources for Teachers

Susan Reehl Broderick Mallet, CAP STEM Education Outreach Director,  shared with us about the many resources available for teachers.

If you have never heard about Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary branch of the United States Air Force, this post is going to be the best news you’ve had in a long time!

On the CAP website, there are many resources available for download to use in your classroom. This Geoboat lesson is just one sample and can easily be adjusted to whatever grade level you teach. I had middle schoolers in study hall begging me to let them do this activity!

Teachers are invited to join CAP as an Aerospace Education Member. There is no requirement to attend meetings, and  membership is very reasonable. For those who become AEM members, the following resources are available for you to use in your classroom free of charge. You won’t even pay the postage to have these resources mailed to you!

The Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) Program is a free, hands-on, fun and engaging Aerospace/STEM Education program for teachers who teach in grades K-6. Each kit contains 20 grade-specific lesson plans and the manipulatives related to those lessons.

Civil Air Patrol Stem Kit Program allows teachers to select a STEM Kit of their choice which they will use for a minimum of 6 hours in the classroom. After a brief evaluation of the kit, teachers may then order their next kit.

For a list of additional educational materials which can be ordered for use in the classroom, visit CAP Aerospace Education Curriculum Materials. There are resources here for grade levels K-12 and can be utilized by teachers of all subjects.

I hope you will take some time to explore the CAP website and check-out the resources available to you as a teacher to enhance your STEM education in your lessons.

 

 

OshKosh AirVenture, Part 3

Space Capsule Egg Drop Challenge

In honor of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s mission, Barbara included a station to create a capsule for an egg which would be launched from the balcony of the museum.

Materials:  Eggs, balloons, tape, string, bubble wrap, coffee filters, plastic table cloth (or 2), garbage bag, cotton balls, small paper plates foam, or any other padding materials you might have on hand.

Challenge: Create a capsule that will protect an egg that is dropped from the balcony.

Procedure: Provide materials for each team and allow them 15-20 minutes to create their capsule. On the floor where the egg capsules will land, lay out a plastic tablecloth that is mark with a big X in the middle. Allow one team to drop their egg at a time.  The team that gets closest to the X without breaking their egg wins the challenge.

Lesson Plan links:

• STEM for Kids: Egg Drop Project
• Egg Drop Challenge: An engineering based science project
• Egg Drop Challenge Lesson Plan & Class Presentation Assignment
• Egg Drop Experiment Lesson Plan

Coming Next: CAP Resources for Teachers

OshKosh AirVenture 2019, Part 2

Balloon powered car challenge

Barbara also shared with us how to make a balloon powered car. Several of the forum participants had a great time with this project!

Materials: balloons, straws, empty water bottle, wooden skewers 4 water bottle lids, tape,

Challenge: Build a balloon-powered rocket car.

Procedure: Divide the class into teams of 3 or 4 students. Have one  student in each group collect the materials.  Allow students 15 -20 minutes to build their cars. Have students blow up the balloons and hold on the starting line. The team with the car that travels the farthest distance wins.

 

Lesson Plan links:

Engineering Project: Balloon Car

Balloon Powered Car

Balloon Powered Car Lesson Plan

Rocket Races

How to Make a Balloon Rocket Car

Coming Next: Space Capsule Egg Drop Challenge

OshKosh AirVenture 2019

It had been my hope and plan to make a post each day while at AirVenture this year. Unfortunately, WIFI was not reliable or readily available for the task, so my apologies to those who have been looking for the new material! If you are new to my blog, welcome! My goal is to provide you with abundant resources for sharing your passion for aviation with your students.

For the next several weeks, I will be posting about my experiences at AirVenture 2019.

Barbara Walters-Phillips

I attended a forum at the museum led by Barbara Walters-Phillips who is a regular presenter at AirVenture. Barbara is the STEM coach at Rosemont Elementary in Orlando, FL President of EAA Chapter 74 and the Orlando Youth Aviation Center where she teaches students aviation on Saturday mornings. Barbara has received the Scott Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year Award in 1994 and the Christa McAuliffe Outstanding Aerospace Educator in 1995. She is a private pilot with a passion for sharing aviation with students and teachers.

Barbara always comes with a bunch of hands-on activities which you can take home and use with your students with very little time or money. The activities she shared with us are also easily adapted to the age and ability of your students. Below are the activities she shared with us as well as some links to lesson plans to help you utilize them with various age groups.

Build a Tower: Pilots need to be able to identify and know where tall towers are, so that they can avoid them.

Materials: small marshmallows, several sizes of wooden skewers

Challenge: Build the tallest tower

Procedure: Divide the class into teams of 3 or 4 students. Allow students to choose their materials. Allow students 10 -15 minutes to build their towers. Measure towers to see which team achieved at least 24 inches. Team with the tallest free-standing tower wins.

Alternatives: Use small Dixi cups. Give each team a sleeve of 36 cups to build their tower; Use spaghetti instead of skewers.

Lesson Plan links:

• The Marshmallow Challenge Instructions – Junior Achievement
• STEM Challenge of the Month: Marshmallow Tower – STEM Like a Girl
• NGSS Engineering in the Classroom | NASA/JPL Edu
• Fourth grade Lesson The Marshmallow Challenge

 

Coming Next: Balloon powered car challenge.