Duluth Aviation Institute Develops Middle School STEM Program
With Aviation Focus
In answer to our nation's call to improve student performance in
STEM subjects, the Duluth Aviation Institute stepped forward to
make sure Duluth students were not left behind. As the city who
nurtured Robert Gilruth, Father of Human Space Flight, Duluthians
can again inspire our students to reach for the moon.
Students at Morgan Park Middle School in Mrs. Munthe's
science class are learning
about aircraft instruments by modeling their own
panels.
The Duluth Aviation Institute, in collaboration with the Duluth
School District, has brought aviation into the classrooms of Morgan
Park and Woodland Middle Schools. Calling together the local
aviation and education communities, Sandra Ettestad, President of
the Duluth Aviation Institute, developed a program bringing the
best of aviation to area students. "Merging our local aviation
history, role models, industry, and airports, with the educational
materials from Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and
Experimental Aircraft Association, a uniquely Duluth program
evolved," Ettestad stated.
For nine lessons, the Institute's aviation educators, Ettestad
and Bill Irving, along with local aviation volunteers, have been
inspiring students to achieve in science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM) with the Path to Aviation - Gilruth Continuum
program. Over the course of nine weeks, lessons have been
presented, models have been assembled, "Plane Quizzes" have been
answered, and extra credit projects are finished. The
students who have excelled throughout the program are being
rewarded with a Young Eagles Flight from Sky Harbor Airport on
Thursday, May 26th from 9:00 to 1:00. Dreams of flying will come
true.
"Morgan Park and Woodland students have been presented a program
they can relate to and reflect upon with their own ambitions", said
Tim Velner, DSD Science Curriculum Specialist. Velner presented the
Path to Aviation - Gilruth Continuum to the sixth grade science
teachers, initiating teacher workshops for a collaborative effort
to develop the program. Educators Velner, Susan Abrahamson, Nicole
Munthe, and Deb Showalter are assisting in refining the lessons for
future students.
Without local financial assistance, this unique opportunity
could not have happened. Ettestad commented, "Through the generous
support of our funders, Morgan Park and Woodland students are
receiving the tools necessary for STEM education. The Monaco Family
Charitable Fund, Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, Northland Foundation
and Arrowhead Manufacturers and Fabricators Association saw the
need and provided the necessary resources for the program."
Creating partnerships for success, the Duluth Aviation Institute
called upon EAA Duluth-Superior Chapter 272 and Cloquet Chapter
1221 to assist with the EAA Young Eagles program. This program is
very successful introducing young students ages 9 - 17 to aviation
with a complementary flight given by a volunteer pilot. The Duluth
Airport Authority is supportive of the Institute' efforts at Sky
Harbor and area pilots are volunteering to give the gift of
flight.