The National Air and Space Museum
One Museum, two locations
Dorothy Cochrane, Curator,
General Aviation
National Mall Building
Washington, DC
cochraned@si.edu
Margy Natalie, Docent Program Manager,
Former FCPS Aerospace Educator in Residence,
Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly VA
nataliem@si.edu
General Aviation Aircraft are
really interesting to students.
They are more to scale and
students can picture
themselves in the plane! This
Aeronca C-2 even smiles at
them!
The Crosley “Flea” is so tiny even the
pre-k crowd looks and says “I can fly
that”! Pictured here with one of our
volunteer student interns!
We can talk about the planes, what
they did and who did it.
The Pepsi Sky Writer was flown by
Suzanne Oliver, pictured here with her
husband Steve and Pax, the dog.
“Little Stinker” was flown by Betty
Skelton who was famous for her
inverted ribbon cut! She was the
first woman to perform that
manuver. It hangs in the entry of the
Udvar-Hazy Center
Quick and Easy
ways to add
aerospace to your
classroom from
the National Air
and Space
Museum!
Quick and Easy ways to add
aerospace to your classroom from
the National Air and Space
Museum!
Use aerospace examples in your
current curricula!
Some examples
• Experimental Design with paper airplanes or
helicopters
• Elementary Math using aspect ratio (yes, this
works with 2nd grade!)
• Time/distance problems on the web
• Newton’s laws
• Convection and conduction
Paper Airplane Experimental Design
Real Math
Fly by Math and Line up with Math!
• According to Newton's third law... For every action there is an equal and
opposite re-action.
What does this mean?
This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in
size, but opposite in direction. That is to say that whenever an object
pushes another object it gets pushed back in the opposite direction
equally hard.
Let's study how a rocket works to understand
Newton's Third Law.
The rocket's action is to push down on the ground with the force of its
powerful engines, and the reaction is that the ground pushes the rocket
upwards with an equal force.
“Borrowed from”
http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/Newton/law3.html
Authentic Assessment!
Teachers can be just as competitive as
the kids!
Use Online Resources!
Online Activities
http://www.nasm.si.edu/educ
ation/onlinelearning.cfm
Learn by doing! A variety of online activities test your
knowledge and demonstrate the principles of aviation and
spaceflight.
Geography From Space
Test your geography knowledge with this
online quiz.
Airplane Anatomy
Activities focused on the Wright brothers and the first
airplane.
America by Air
Activities focused on the development of commercial
aviation.
CyberCenter
Try your hand as a planetary researcher.
Please NOTE: do not use "save your work" feature. It is not
functioning.
Black Wings
Stories of famous African American aviation pioneers.
NASA Design Challenges!
NASA design challenges can be easily adapted to your
classroom use, even if you don’t have the time in your
curriculum to do the entire challenge. Two of our 90
minutes lessons are based on these design challenges!
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thermal Protection Systems Design Challenge (Heat and Conduction)
Spacecraft Design Structures Challenge (Newton's Law)
Electrodynamic Propulsion Systems (Electromagnetism)
Centennial of Flight: Propeller Design Challenge (Forces and Motion)
Personal Satellite Assistant (Forces and Motion)
Living Off the Land: Water Filtration Challenge (Properties and changes of
properties in matter)
• Lunar Plant Growth Chamber (Life Science, Technology)
Isn’t this stuff expensive?!?
• There are grants available to teachers to help
pay for these supplies and materials!
– CAP
– AIAA
– Check your state department of aviation
– Check your local resources