>> Hello, and welcome to NASA Langley's Aeronautics Teacher
Discussion Panel.
My name is Marilé Colón Robles or Marilé,
and I'm an education specialist here
in NASA Langley Research Center.
We put together a great group of teachers for today's discussion
to give you ideas of how to implement this activity
and some resources for you
to maybe consider in your classroom.
Let's meet the teachers.
>> Hi. My name is Margorie Thrash [assumed spelling]
and I'm a sixth-grade science teacher
at Berkeley Middle School in Williamsburg, Virginia.
I've been teaching for 16 years, and I had the privilege
of working on the batch this summer.
>> Hi. My name is James Dilley [assumed spelling].
I'm a mathematics teacher
at Nansemond River High School in Suffolk.
I've been teaching for 21 years.
I was part of the [inaudible] program this summer here
at NASA.
>> Hi. My name is Kiera Brown.
I teach at Nansemond River High School.
I've been teaching for 21 years, and I, too,
was part of the [inaudible] Program at Nessa this summer.
>> Hi. My name is Kevin [inaudible].
I am the instructional STEM coach
for [inaudible] public school systems, and I've been
in education for 27 years.
>> So, one of the things that we want
to know is what was your experience
as you were doing the activities?
So, Margorie, you helped us put together the batch
for this activity.
What was something that excited you the most
to implement in your classroom?
>> Well, I was really excited about controlling variables
and weaving that into our classroom
because science process skills are so important,
and with aeronautics, especially paper airplanes,
there's high engagement already,
and so whenever you can you know pull something in like that,
the kids are already interested in.
You know you are going to have some success.
But I really was excited about the math element of it
and using coordinates, and offering some graphing as well.
So, really showing the kids how science
and math are intertwined, and giving them opportunity
to collect their own data and enjoy the process
of throwing airplanes.
>> Mm-hmm.
So, James and Kiera, thank you for being here.
You're both math teachers and we're very excited.
So, James, what was something unique about this activity
that you felt using particularly the math component
with this activity?
>> Well, I think the biggest thing that was unique
for me was the comparing and contrast
of the different elements of the materials
that you could use within projects.
It was so unique in the fact that we were just at a workshop
on just yesterday where our department chair,
our lead teacher for the city, was telling us that, you know,
it's okay for the kids to have the calculator,
but you have this calculator
and they're just simply downloading information.
What are they really looking at?
So, when you bring those components in and having them
to draw their own conclusions based on the components,
you're know putting the thinking back on the student,
and not on the teacher.
>> Oh, that's great, right?
Because it goes into them why are we doing this?
Which is so important with math?
Kia, do you want to share something about this activity
that excited you as a math teacher?
>> I think that one of the most exciting parts
for me was the energy the kids had and just the idea
of throwing a paper airplane, because they get to design it,
and then fold, and they work collaboratively together.
I think that one of the best things for me was the fact
that they can make predictions prior to and then test it to see
if their predictions were actually accurate.
And some of them weren't which is good
so they could see why they were and discuss it, and analyze it
and come back to it again.
>> Okay, great.
And then Kevin, I know that some
of your teachers [inaudible] are doing this activity,
and what are some of the feedback that you've gotten back
so far about the activity?
>> Well, it has an engineering component
to it which is really nice.
It also keeps the design of the plane the constant
because they have to follow the prescribed way to build planes.
Then you can see how you know you have three different types
of paper, they are all paper
but they all have different properties.
And so, you have a ridged wing, you have a more flexible wing,
and then two flexible wing
and they can see how the tied relationship between distance
and how long it's in the air results in the material.
>> That's great.
So, in the science perspective,
where do you see this activity following the most
in your curriculum?
>> Well, I think it would be a great way to connect math
and science, so anytime you're going
to do some controlled studies in science, if you can connect it
with a math teacher, that's always great
to take a step further.
There's a historical component to it you could tie
into history, and there was also some physics involved,
so you could really go a number of different directions.
I do like the material science aspect of it, and getting kids
to think about why we test things over and over again.
Why use so many different materials?
And in this particular test, we just want
to see how far the paper airplane can go,
but maybe the one that flew the farthest wouldn't be the best
under different circumstances.
So, getting to think about, you know,
maybe this material isn't best here,
but under these conditions, it might be better.
>> That's neat.
Yes. James and Kia with your math perspective,
did you feel comfortable applying it even though it has
that science component to it?
>> I know with me I feel
that I could do it especially with pre-calculus.
It involves graphing materials and in my class when they get
to me, they've already had the components of Algebra I,
Geometry and Algebra II, and they have the components
of actually graphing on the calculator.
But so many times it's okay I can graph on the calculator,
but what is it I'm actually doing?
And when you take that stuff out and again apply it to something
that they already know,
it's like okay I know what I'm looking for,
so what are the constraints that are going to help me get
to what it is I'm looking for.
And then so many things out there that's involved it's
like you know you can go across a curriculum.
It involves English.
It involves history.
It involves math.
It involves science.
So, there's so many things that they can implement
into what they discover on their own
that makes that final product.
Let's them say, you know what,
I really do actually understand everything behind the project,
and not just the math portion of it.
Or the teacher just came and told me his set of data.
Put it in the calculator, and what do you get?
And then they're like okay, well,
this is what I got on the paper.
What was it?
I don't know.
But when they get that sense of ownership,
it's now saying this belongs to me,
and I know exactly what the data says.
You can ask me any question about it,
and I can support anything that I've done on my paper.
>> That's great.
Anything that you would like to add, Kia?
>> I teach geometry and honors geometry, and I think there's
so many things you incorporate that's specifically
for a right triangle to think the students could throw the
paper airplane and then know they're going
to form a perpendicular by themselves with the ground,
they could find like the hypotenuse,
they could then find the angle of elevation, depression
and compare those and then be able to see that by themselves.
I think it's a great activity to tie in all components
of right triangles if you had that particular unit.
>> Oh, that's great.
So, it seems like this is a really neat activity
to integrate different teachers in one main topic.
Is that something feasible to do in a school, Kevin?
I wonder.
>> Oh, I think so.
I mean, besides the math and the science, you could definitely,
you know, research [inaudible] and the, you know,
where he grew up, and bring geography
to the history of that area.
English, writing an essay,
you could actually do oral communication, you know,
where the students have to give an oral presentation
on their findings and be able to explain to other students,
you know, be able to analyze your results.
There's a whole host of things you could do
with this experiment.
And one of the ones I like the best is if I took,
you know once you determine the best property or the best type
of paper that makes a plane to now make the paper your constant
on a redesign and change what was the constant design
into the variable, and see if it follows the same type
of graphing results, you know, if it has the same slope.
>> Yeah, yeah.
That's really neat, right?
So, it really gets the kids excited
because you're working with paper airplanes.
Oh my goodness, right?
So, you can go to different materials.
You can go to different designs and just test force as a motion,
or you can keep it with the math component
where it's like extended.
So, it has a lot of extension ideas as well.
I guess some of the constraints that can come
up is just space, right?
So, has any of you guys have any tips for the constraints,
particularly the space that you might need?
>> Well, a hallway if feasible.
Usually most schools will have long hallways and in
that situation, you could work, have the kids work
in collaborative groups and do some stations
where students were in the classroom
and have them take turns in the hallway as a small group.
Doing it that way.
Outside would be a little more challenging.
It would have to be a very calm day.
>> Right. Right.
>> And so you might lose the attention of your class,
but if you could do a hallway,
that would really work out great I think.
>> I think some of the other factors, and I was just thinking
about it, you could even do the auditorium.
Most of the time, the auditorium is not being used anyway,
and that still gives you plenty of space
that you can actually you know do the activity in.
I just remember over the summer,
when we were here doing the activity in the hallway,
we had to end up moving because as adults,
because adults were once kids, we were making too much noise.
And people were asking us to move.
So, again, that was another thing that you could do.
It just so happens my room in the building that I'm in,
I'm actually on the corner of the building,
so really it will work out great where I'm at, but again,
you want to respect your peers,
you want to respect your coworkers,
and I think I had thought about maybe doing the gym,
but then that's interfering with the P.E. teachers.
But I think that auditorium,
usually nobody is using it anyway, and you might
as well utilize the space in your building.
>> Mm-hmm.
That's right.
I remember that you guys were a little bit too noisy
but it's great.
>> I'm excited.
>> But it's great because it's the excitement
that we really want.
>> Yes.
>> How about some of the other comments
from other reviewers were saying about how
to be consistent with throwing, right?
So maybe having like something behind you,
or a little mark maybe on the wall.
>> Right.
>> So, you make sure that you throw it.
Kevin, you were talking
about it's an engineering design challenge, right.
Other teachers have talked about even making something
to just throw the airplane.
How can you be consistent with throwing the airplane?
So, there's a lot of variables that you could control
or let them be free and see what are the results.
How about applications with different types of students
or different types of learning environments?
How would this activity be helpful for different students?
>> I think that's the benefit of working in collaborative groups
because as an educator, you know your students,
and you can group them in ways
where they can support one another,
and giving different responsibilities
to different students in advance, that's helpful.
And, you know, someone is always really good at being a recorder
and stuff and, actually, they all want to partake in it,
so making sure that everybody gets a turn.
So, if you have to adjust the number of trials
to accommodate your group, you can go back and change that.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And I think, too, you can play to the strength
of your kids, even if you say
like you say you know usually most people will go
to the tallest person when they're launching
for whatever reason they just feel
like the tallest person will have the best launch.
You can even go down to the fact
if you have the you know the visual person,
they can actually sit
and actually create a drawing of their airplane.
It's just so many ways to tie in everybody into it,
and you give everybody a responsibility within the group,
and then at the end when that finished product is done,
they have that responsibility.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> So, you're bringing everybody in and nobody is left out,
and at the same time, nobody is doing all of the work
within the project itself, so you're bringing everybody
within into the group.
>> Yeah, so many different a variety
of different rules each person could apply.
Like she said, dependent upon what dynamics your individual
class has.
It might be fun for students to go physically record
and then be able to go post that on teacher's website
or something of that nature.
They're also interacting that way.
>> I mean, students have to get used to working in teams.
That's the way we do everything now in teams and you know
as you said play to people's strengths.
You have the type outcast type child who maybe not as good
as reading or writing but knows the information just as well.
And so, we have someone to take his awesome ideas
and you know transfer them into written language
and see how that's done.
So, he learns and you might have the English person who's not
much into science and she or he is learning, and so yeah,
it's a give and take and everyone learns from each other,
and students do best learn from each other
than they do from a teacher.
So, a student can learn from their peer, they're well off.
>> Yeah, and like you brought up Kia,
it seems like a great activity to bring
in technology particularly if you are allowed your students
with new phones that have the slow-motion option,
that would be a really neat thing to take the slow motion
and maybe even see the arching if there's any arching
or anything like that.
Something really neat.
Any other ideas or suggestions for teachers that are planning
on implementing this activity in their classroom?
>> I was going to suggest that as far as the variables being
so many variables that they can't control,
it would be interesting to put that back on the students
and get them to think how could we improve this experiment
and make it better so that we control for these factors?
And put it on them and then get them to redesign the experiment
and improve it, because that's what scientist do.
>> Or even if your, you know, the variable of the toss.
You know everyone's going to toss it a different force,
a different way; so, if you wanted
to make a makeshift wind tunnel with a box fan and it was
on the same setting the whole time for each plane
and you made a stand, and you get more accurate results.
>> You know, location could be varied, too.
They could fly where they want to the cafeteria
if there's cook floors or whether there's carpet
in the hallways that would add a different factor to it as well.
They could take educated guesses and decide.
Maybe have a competition between classes.
>> Oh, that's neat.
Yeah, I like that idea.
>> I think, too, when you put that responsibility back
on them, like I said, it just it shows them
that that's ownership.
The one thing that I have seen in my 21 years of teaching is
when you put that ownership back on the kid
and say this is your work, this is your product,
you will see just the transition that they made it is like,
you know, maybe I walked in here at the beginning of the year
and realized I couldn't do this.
Or just because somebody took the time
and showed me what it was that I really was looking for,
I really can do it, but I just need
to say to myself that I can.
And somebody just needs to open that window up
and let me just be me, and you play to their strengths.
And then from there you just constantly build on what it is
that they're bringing you every day, and I think that's
that was what will bring them success.
>> That's a really good point.
Thank you so much.
Those were wonderful points.
I hope that you guys have enjoyed this conversation.
There's a lot of ideas here.
This is a great activity to get your kids thinking
and really playing to their strengths.
Let us know your thoughts also
as you do this activity in your classroom.
Thank you so much.