Professional Development

WinnAero Teacher Training

When: WinnAero Teacher AeroCamp will take place on 11 October, 2024, 8:30-3:00

Where: Sky Bright Hangar, Gate N, Aviation Way, Laconia Airport, Gilford NH

Who: All Private, Public, and Homeschool teachers as well as CAP Aerospace Education Officers

What: The focus will be to prepare teachers to present aviation and space topics to their students. The day will be divided into six one-hour sessions. Each session will have a different topic with a hands-on component so teachers will be comfortable “doing” the activity with their students. Many of the activities will be from the Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Dimensions Modules.

Participants will select four sessions to attend and during a fifth session, they will fly an “Orientation” Flight with John Seeler, CFI, President of the Laconia EAA Chapter and WinnAero Board member. The last session will discuss curriculum resources, grants and other opportunities.

Only two teachers will be able to complete their “O” Flight in a given session. Please select three different sessions for your first, second and third choice. Teachers will be expected to participate in all other sessions except the one when they will be in the air on their “O” Flight.

Topics are as follows:

8:30-9:20 Session 1: Aviation Basics

2 teacher “O” Flights

9:30-10:20 Session 2: Elementary Activities and Air Traffic Control

2 teacher “O” Flights

10:30-11:20 Session 3: Aircraft Pre-Flight

2 teacher “O” Flights

11:30-12:00 Lunch

12:00-12:50 Session 4: Flight Simulation

2 teacher “O” Flights

1:00-1:50 Session 5: Rocketry and Orbital Mechanics/Systems Tool Kit

2 teacher “O” Flights

2:00-2:50 Session 6: Resources (curriculum materials, grants, etc)

Plus-Delta (what was good, what should we change?)

All levels: Aviation basics (Forces of flight, aircraft control, axes of rotation) (Dan Caron)

All levels: Aircraft Pre-Flight (Karen Mitchell)

All levels: Air Traffic Control (air space, communication, NATO phonetic alphabet, military time) (Karen Mitchell)

All levels: Flight simulators (Zach Glennon)

Elementary: Aviation activities for STEM (Dan Caron)

Middle & High School: Rocketry (air, water, model rocketry)(Dan Caron)

High School: Orbital mechanics and STK Demo (James O’Donnel)

Please complete the Registration Form, downloadable here and email it to Dan Caron at dan.caron@winnaero.org

WinnAero Aerospace STEM

Professional Development for Spring 2024

Descriptions and Registration Information

Join WinnAero for any or all of the one-day teacher workshops designed to equip attendees with resources and projects to add aerospace-related STEM activities to their current curricula. Using Civil Air Patrol’s ACE (Aerospace Connections in Education) Program participants can register for one or more of the six Aerospace Education Modules:

- A1 – Introduction to Aviation – Saturday, March 9, 2024
- A2 – Aircraft Systems and Airports – Wednesday, March 13, 2024
- A3 – Air Environment and Meteorology – Saturday, March 23, 2024
- S1 – Rockets – Wednesday, March 27, 2024
- S2 – The Space Environment – Wednesday, April 3, 2024
- S3 – Spacecraft – Saturday, April 13, 2024

Attendees will receive a one-year CAP Aerospace Education Member (AEM) membership and an opportunity to apply for CAP grants, STEM Kits and other CAP Curriculum materials. Homeschool teachers and CAP Aerospace Education Officers are invited to participate. For information about AEM membership, click here.

In every workshop, teachers will “do” the activities just like their students will do. They will also discover granting organizations to help them plan and implement the activities with their students. These include: CAP AEX, STEM Kits, and classroom grants from CAP, Air Force Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the National Association of Rocketry.

All sessions are “stand-alone,” and teachers can decide how many of the sessions they wish to attend.

All sessions will meet in the Conference Room at the Laconia Airport Terminal, 65 Aviation Way, Laconia Airport, Gilford, NH.

Check-In starts at 8:30 AM, program begins at 9:00 AM and will conclude at 3:30 PM.

There is a $75 registration fee for non Civil Air Patrol members for the first session and $40 registration fee for the remaining sessions. Scroll to the bottom of this page for the registration form link.

Current members of Civil Air Patrol may register for $40 for any of the sessions.

Registration includes all workshop materials, lunch, and snacks. The following sessions are scheduled:

Introduction to Aviation

Session A1

This module is divided into three chapters:

Flight Principles & The Power of Physics
To Fly By the Lifting Power of Rising Air
Balloons – They Create Their Own Thermals

The module begins with the scientific principles and laws that explain lift and the forces of flight. The module continues with a discussion of gliders and balloons, and how they use air currents, thermals, and buoyancy to achieve flight.

Aircraft Systems & Airports

Session A2

The second module is divided into three chapters:

Airplane Systems
Airports
Airport to Airport – Aeronautical Charts

The module begins with aircraft engines, controls and instrumentation. The module continues with airport layout, runway/taxiway markings and signage and ends with aeronautical charts and navigation.

Air Environment & Meterology

Session A3

The third module is divided into five chapters: The Atmosphere; Air Circulation; Weather Elements; Moisture and Clouds; Weather Systems and Severe Weather. The module begins with the layers of the atmosphere and air circulation around the globe. It continues with a discussion of wind, temperature, pressure and moisture. The module ends with weather systems and how they affect aviation.

Rockets

Session S1

This module is divided into three chapters: History of Rockets; Rocket Principles, Systems and Engines; Rocket and Private Space Travel. The module begins with the Hero engine (400 BC) and continues into rocketry from the eras of Dr. Robert Goddard, Wernher von Braun, to the space race. The module continues into the scientific principles that govern space flight and ends with a discussion of commercial space flight efforts. Engineering students from the Boston University Rocket Propulsion Group (BURPG) are expected to be on hand to assist with this session.

Space Environment

Session S2

This module is divided into four chapters:

Space
Stars
Our Solar System: Sun, Moon and More
Our Solar System: Planets

The module begins with the characteristics of space, the birth, life and death of stars, and continues with a discussion of the sun and other bodies within the solar system.

Spacecraft

Session S3

This module is divided into three chapters: Unmanned Spacecraft; Manned Spacecraft; Living and Working in Space. The module begins with an explanation of orbits and the various robotic satellite missions throughout the solar system. The module continues with human tended missions by the Soviets, Americans and others. The module ends with a description of life in space aboard space stations.

The Aerospace Dimensions modules from Civil Air Patrol are written for middle school students but can easily be adapted for elementary or high school classes. Some of these inquiry-based activities were designed as group activities while others are meant to be completed by individual students. The activity plans include: Purpose, Materials, Procedure and a Summary. All materials are aligned with standards from Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, Social Studies and Technology.

Registration

Download and mail in the registration form below.

There is a $75 registration fee for non Civil Air Patrol members for the first session and $40 registration fee for the remaining sessions. For CAP Aerospace Education Members, there is a $40 registration fee for each workshop session.

Registration includes all workshop materials, lunch, snacks, & CAP AEM membership.

Make checks payable to WinnAero. Return the form and registration fee to:
WinnAero
C/O Laconia Airport
65 Aviation Way
Gilford, NH 03249