FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ATLANTA — Aerospace education can be the answer to stringent requirements facing schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

According to Tony Fowler, interagency coordinator for the U.S. Department of Education, the new legislation requires schools to use more evidence-based teaching methods in math and science. He spoke about the issues March 25 at the National Congress on Aviation and Space Education in Atlanta, hosted by Civil Air Patrol and the U.S. Air Force.

“At the 2002 Mathematics Summit in Washington, we gathered experts in mathematics and education to talk about how we teach math in our schools today,” Fowler said. “The Department of Education concluded that we need more information about how to teach math and science in this country. We don’t have enough solid evidence to support the teaching methods we use.

“The No Child Left Behind Act requires educators to examine their methods, gather evidence for what works and what doesn’t, and then distribute among all educators the best practices for teaching these subjects.”

Fowler said his review of the literature leads him to believe that aerospace-themed teaching is among these best practices. An example, he said, was the rise in test scores shown by third-graders in an Oshkosh, Wis. charter school when they used aerospace themes throughout the curriculum. Fowler said test score improvement was particularly evident in math, science and social studies. The study was co-sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Oshkosh Schools.

“These results are not surprising to educators who employ aerospace themes in the classroom,” said Judy Rice, deputy director of aerospace education for Civil Air Patrol and a former Director of Youth Education for EAA’s Aviation Foundation's Science-Math-Technology Project. “You can take something like the flight of Amelia Earhart and draw all kinds of lessons from it. You can study sociology and history by looking at the culture and technology of Amelia’s world in 1937. You can study math by charting her flight path, and figuring out how fast she had to travel to fly from one point to another. Science comes in when you look at the flight principles that may have affected her progress – drag and lift, the effects of weather, the construction of her aircraft.

“And then there’s the character education that comes from studying her determination to fly, her fighting the prevailing prejudice against female aviators, and her courage in undertaking such a risky flight.”

In an education world increasingly driven by standardized testing, Fowler says teachers fear their curriculum may become so focused on “teaching to the test” that no time remains for more creative lessons like the Earhart study. “The key is to find those creative lessons that will effectively teach the concepts included on the standardized tests,” he said. “We’re beginning to see how students can learn those concepts by doing aerospace activities through programs like Space Camp, Embry-Riddle’s Aviation Career Education Academy, and Civil Air Patrol’s aerospace education and cadet programs.”

Fowler said the U.S. Department of Education has established a “What Works Clearinghouse” at www.w-w-c.org <http://www.w-w-c.org/> which will list programs, practices and products proven to work in the classroom. He challenged teachers at the National Congress on Aerospace Education to continue developing aerospace-themed programs, and to measure the results they achieve.

“Educators must respond to the No Child Left Behind Act,” Fowler told the teachers. “The reality is that this law is what we’re working under. It’s new and it’s hard. Use the emphasis on accountability to develop plans and empirical data on aerospace education, and then the Department of Education can help you promote it and share your findings with others.”

More than 500 educators and other aerospace education supporters attended the National Congress last week in Atlanta. Many were teachers who are part of Civil Air Patrol through a special educator membership category. CAP produces free and low-cost teaching materials for those teachers as part of its nonprofit aerospace education program, called MARS (Making Aerospace Real for Students). Many homeschoolers also use CAP aerospace materials. For more information on the MARS program, go to www.cap.gov <http://www.cap.gov/> and click on Aerospace Education.

Civil Air Patrol, the official Air Force auxiliary, is a nonprofit organization with almost 62,000 members nationwide. It performs 95% of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members take a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the almost 27,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 60 years.

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