LSWT | STEM 4 Innovation

As always, we very much enjoyed hosting groups of teachers and educators for a portion of the STEM 4 Innovation event! Each group was able to tour the Texas A&M Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel, talk through a parachute project, a paper airplane project, and a data analysis project for their classroom, and discuss other ways that aerospace and testing can be incorporated into daily learning.

Below is a compiled list of resources that may be useful to teachers and educators, some of which were discussed during the event. Links include teaching resources, courses, events, fun games, and more!

LSWT Presentation & Resources These links include the presentation on LSWT tests as well as the teacher resources discussed after the tour.
Boy Scout Aviation Badge Every year, Alpha Phi Omega hosts a Merit Badge University for members of the Boy Scouts on the campus of Texas A&M. The LSWT is also involved in this event by coordinating with the Aerospace Department, Brazos Valley Flight Services, and more to help the scouts reach all requirements for their Aviation Badge. Please visit tamumbu.org for the overall event site, or lswt.tamu.edu/boyscouts for photos and info on just the aviation event.
Embry-Riddle University: Aviation 101 Aviation 101 is a free online Introduction to aviation. Proceed at your own pace to complete each lesson. Aviation 101 is comprised of nine video lessons which will introduce you to a variety of topics in aviation such as aerodynamics, radio communication, navigation, and everything in between.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association The AOPA exists to protect and grow the incredible privilege we call aviation. They educate the public, help you acquire a pilot’s license, advocate for aviation within government agencies and much more. They are also currently developing a high school aviation curriculum with free 9th and 10th grade courses for those who are approved.
Animated Engines This site explains many different types of engines and their differences by using animations. Some of the ones related to aviation include the four-stroke engine and jet engines.	Animated Engines
Homemade Wright Flyer If you enjoy paper airplane making, maybe you would like to take it up a few notches and make your own model Wright Flyer. This NASA website gives instructions for building 4 different versions of the planes the Wright Brothers flew.	Wright Flyer
Aeroscholars Online Aviation High School Course While this course is not free, it looks to be a good way to keep learning about aviation through high school while possibly getting school credit. The first course covers fundamentals of aviation science and uses educational video, 3D animations, interactive questions, and other multimedia learning tools to help students learn.
Smart Skies™ Air Traffic Controller Game App – Sector 33 Developed by NASA, Smart Skies is a middle school mathematics program that teaches students about the challenges that air traffic controllers experience every day. The companion game app, Sector 33, gives students some first-hand experience of what is is like to be an air traffic controller.	Sector 33
NASA Texas High School Aerospace Scholars The High School Aerospace Scholar program offers a one-of-a-kind experience for Texas high school juniors to explore the possibilities of a STEM related major or career. The adventure starts with an online course and culminates with an onsite summer experience at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program The CAP Cadet Program is a year-round program where Cadets fly, learn to lead, hike, camp, get in shape, and push themselves to new limits. If you’re dreaming about a career in aviation, space, or the military, CAP’s Cadet Program is for you.

For Educators and Parents

A Model Aerospace Curriculum This document details the formation and rational behind August Martin High School, an aviation high school in New York City. While the paper provides great resources for how this version of a high school could be formed, it is even more useful for the detailed examples it gives of using aviation in problems and prompts for every subject from English to math to foreign languages.
Beginner’s Guide to Aerodynamics Activities This NASA resource provides a wide variety of aerospace activities and lesson plans generated by active teachers, educators, and NASA engineers and scientists. They are arranged by subject and grade level with pages for both the students and teachers.
Interactive: Dihedral Effects in Aircraft Flight This Wolfram Demonstration project can be used for multiple different applications, but the CDF player and the accompanying dihedral demonstration code can provide an interactive look at how an airplane’s shape affects its flight characteristics. If the explanations included need additional clarification, try Stack Exchange’s dihedral explanation.
Paper Airplane Learning Use this paper airplane template and instructions to make The Arrow, a great flying plane that can also be a great teaching tool. Use the opportunity to discuss Bernoulli’s Principle and explain how planes make lift. Talk about dihedral and elevators and ailerons to help students learn why planes are shaped the way they are. Make it a challenge! Can you fold your plane to avoid obstacles?
Engineering Design Process While most students learn about the Scientific Method, many do not know about the Engineering Design Process and its similarities and differences to its science counterpart. Discussing how engineers think and performing the design process themselves can go a long way to helping students see engineering as a viable career.
Aerobie Flying Rings vs Frisbees Project If you’ve played catch with both Aerobie flying rings and Frisbees, you know that the rings fly much further than the Frisbees with the same throwing effort. Why is that? Investigate the aerodynamics of flying rings and flying disks and find out! The objective of this project is to explore the aerodynamics of flying rings. What effect do various design modifications (e.g., increasing weight near perimeter, increasing weight near center, curving the leading edge, decreasing the size of the center cut-out) have on flight distance?
Build a Wind Tunnel Project This how-to guide provides detailed instructions for construction and use of a subsonic wind tunnel. The wind tunnel is best used for science fair projects in grades 9–12.
Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Education Member Join as an Aerospace Education Member (AEM) of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and enjoy many free aerospace educational opportunities ranging from receiving lesson plans to participating in a teacher orientation flight aboard one of our Cessna aircraft. This unique membership category is designed for educators or others involved in promoting aerospace education in classrooms, museums, or other youth organizations.
Air Camp Air Camp is a hands-on, educational adventure in aviation and aeronautics. They inspire students at the intermediate and middle school levels, as well as teachers and educational leaders across all grades, to learn more about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) using aviation and aerospace as the medium while promoting the values of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship.
Aggie STEM Aggie STEM works with teachers and schools to achieve these goals primarily through professional development activities involving STEM Project-Based Learning, Professional Learning Communities, strategies to improve high stakes test scores, awareness of STEM careers, and integration of the latest technologies face-to-face and online. Aggie STEM also hosts a 1-week and 2-week STEM bootcamp for teachers.