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Workshops help teachers incorporate
aeronautics topics into lesson plans

ITD's 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 Payette, June 16-17; one in Pocatello June 22-23; and a third workshop June 30-July 1 in Sandpoint. Although they are intended primarily for grades 6-12, the lessons are appropriate for all levels.

"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," said Frank Lester, safety/education coordinator for the ITD Division of Aeronautics. "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."

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 2008 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 through the use of time zones;
How paper airplanes can be used to teach scientific principles of flight as well as basic statistics such as the mean, median, and mode;
Tracking down a UFO using a mathematical table;
Discovering what secrets are contained within Area 51;
Aviation literature combined with legends and myths;
How motion pictures reinforce learning concepts;
How the aviation Internet affects education.

College credit and Continuing Education Hours will be available following completion of the two-day workshop.

Teachers are encouraged to register early as registrations are limited to 25 per workshop. For more information about the workshops or the registration process, contact Frank Lester (frank.lester@itd.idaho.gov) or Tammy Schoen (tammy.schoen@itd.idaho.gov) by e-mail or telephone at (208) 334-8775.