5/12/2006
Workshops will teach teachers how to incorporate aviation in school curriculum
(Media note: The following news release was distributed earlier. We are resending it because the workshop dates are rapidly approaching and we need to give teachers enough notice to include it on their summer schedules. Thank you for helping us share the information. -- ITD)
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BOISE - The Idaho Transportation Departments Division of Aeronautics will sponsor several two-day Teacher Aviation Workshops early this summer to demonstrate how aviation subjects can be incorporated into regular lessons.
Three workshops are planned: one in northern Idaho, June 19, 20; one in Idaho Falls June 22, 23; and a third workshop June 28, 29 in Boise. Although they are intended primarily for grades 4-8, the lessons are appropriate for all grades through high school.
"Teachers who are looking for unique ideas to teach mathematics and science, linking with reading, social studies and technology will find the workshops especially beneficial. This exciting, fun-filled, hands-on workshop will include ideas about incorporating aviation activities into the curriculum and will demonstrate the role aviation plays in every-day activities," said Frank Lester, safety/education coordinator for the ITD Division of Aeronautics.
Using official aeronautical charts, easy-to-make-plotters, and other low cost items, participants will fly high with numerous classroom-ready lessons. All activities will be aligned with the 2006 Idaho State Academic Standards and are very relevant to the ISAT, Lester added.
The workshops will explore:
- Flight planning with compass directions and latitude and longitude map operations
- Practical applications of geometrical formulas used in search and rescue as well as runway construction projects
- Negative and positive integers will be explored through the use of time zones
- Paper airplanes can be used to teach scientific principles of flight as well as basic statistics such as the mean, median, and mode
- Track down a UFO using a mathematical table
- Discover what secrets are contained within Area 51
- Explore aviation literature combined with legends and myths
- See how motion pictures reinforce learning concepts
- Survey how the aviation Internet affects education