John
Carroll Students Take Part in
Zero-gravity Parabolic Flights
Zero-G
Gives Rise to a "Teachable
Moment": Educators Take a Flight
to Weightlessness for the Sake of
Science by Alan Boyle,
Science Editor, MSNBC, Sept. 13,
2006.
CLEVELAND
- As we floated in weightlessness,
we squirted each other with water
guns, gulped down candy hovering
in midair and soared like Superman.
We also studied accelerometers and
weight scales, played catch with
plush toys and showed how Newton's
laws of motion held sway, even on
a plunging Boeing 727 jet. And we
whooped and laughed. A lot.
Over the weekend, about 40 teachers (and a few journalists) from throughout the country converged on Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport for two zero-gravity parabolic flights, with the serious purpose of inspiring kids to study math and science. But I have to admit, we didn't look very serious while we were doing it. In fact, a lot of the teachers (and a few journalists) seemed more like kids bouncing off the walls of a flying playground.
Our weekend date with weightlessness was part of a nationwide "Weightless Flights of Discovery" program, sponsored by the aerospace company Northrop Grumman in cooperation with Zero Gravity Corp. In all, about 240 teachers are participating in the program, which wraps up in Washington later this month.
On
one level, the exercise gives educators
a chance to demonstrate the laws
of physics in an environment like
nothing on Earth: Objects in motion
(like those plush toys) really stay
in motion rather than falling to
the floor. Surface tension turns
those squirts of water into floating,
glistening spheres. CD players and
bicycle wheels go into a stable
spin like gyroscopes. "That's the
way physics teaching is all the
time," said Jeff Klein of Cleveland's
Gilmour Academy. "We've got great
toys." On another level, the teachers'
personal experience serves to inspire
their kids to delve more deeply
into science and math. "My students
have been looking at me in awe for
two weeks," said Nancy Morris of
Riverside Elementary School in Cleveland.
In the days leading up to physics teacher Matt Gelon's weightless flight, his students at Barrington High School in Illinois could hardly think of anything else. "It's funny," Gelon said. "We try to settle on one topic, and we just have to let that go and just use this as a
teachable moment."
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