IN THIS ISSUEAEM Spotlight............ 2AEO Spotlight ............. 3ACE Update................. 4AE Notes.....................5Curriculum Corner ... 6-9AFA News.................10From Dep Dir Desk.....11Region to Region.......12

Fall 2011

Aerospace Education NewsAerospace Education News is the officialaerospace education quarterly publica-tion of the Civil Air Patrol at CAPNational Headquarters, Maxwell AirForce Base, Ala.

EditorJudy Stone

Contributing WritersJeff Montgomery

Susan MallettAngie St. JohnDebbie Dahl

Printing ServiceJacques Pebworth

If you have news, events, or ideas wemight consider for the newsletter, pleasesubmit them electronically tojstone@capnhq.gov.

Mars Rover - A CuriosityWe wish you allWe wish you allthe best as thethe best as theholiday seasonholiday seasona p p r o a c h e s .a p p r o a c h e s .Please be safe. Please be safe.

--AE Team--AE Team

NASA’s next Mars rover, Curiosity,is the size of a small car and is sched-uled to land on Mars in August 2012.Curiosity is about twice as long andmore than five times as heavy as anyprevious Mars rover. Its 10 scientificinstruments include two for ingestingand analyzing samples of powderedrock that the rover’s robotic arm col-lects. A radioisotope power source willprovide heat and electric power to therover. A rocket-powered sky crane sus-pending Curiosity on tethers will lowerthe rover directly to the Martian surface.

Plans for the Mars ScienceLaboratory mission call for launch fromCape Canaveral Air Force Station,Florida, between Nov. 25 and Dec.18,2011, and arrival at Mars in August2012. The Mars Science Laboratory willdeliver Curiosity to a landing sitebeside a mountain inside Gale Crateron Mars. During a two-year mission onthe Red Planet, the rover will investi-gate whether a selected area of Mars

has offered environmental conditionsfavorable for microbial life and for pre-serving evidence about life.

What will be mankind’s next fron-tier....Mars?To watch a video simulation of the Marsrover, Curiosity, landing on Mars anddeploying instruments, visithttp://www.sciencekids.co.nz/videos

/space/marsrover.html. To stayinformed on the progress of this MarsScience Laboratory mission, go tohttp://www.nasa.gov/msl.

Questions:

1. How does Curiosity compare

in size to the previous Mars

rovers?

2. What will provide the heat and

electric power to Curiosity?

3. When should Curiosity arrive

at Mars?

(Answers on page 11.)

Artist’s Concept of Mars rover, Curiosity, on the

Martian surface

2Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

Aerospace Education Member(AEM) Spotlight ...

CAP National Teacher of theYear... . .Megan Tucker, FL

Dedicated, organized, cre-ative....these are all descriptions ofMegan Tucker, the CAP NationalTeacher of the Year for 2011. Meganhas taught at Kenwood ElementarySchool in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.Principal of Kenwood, Alan Lambert,said of Megan, “Mrs. Tucker’s resource-fulness, tactfulness, and flexibility indealing with teachers, administrators,and parents alike, in addition to her natu-ral proclivity for teaching, has made heran invaluable asset to the school districtin general and my school in particular.”

Not only has Megan been an inspi-ration and educational force within herschool, but she has also reached outinto the community, spreading the wordof aerospace education through a part-nership with the Air Force Association,Hulbert Field Chapter #398. Megan wasin charge of the AFA Chapter’s AEWorkshop and also received the AFAElementary Teacher of the Year for the

chapter. Megan also received theSustained Service Citation from theFlorida Air Force Association.

Megan has gone above andbeyond in extending her professionaldevelopment and achieving the highestlevel of excellence she possibly can asan educator. Megan became aNationally Board Certified Teacher in2009 and also wrote a winning essay fora nationwide contest sponsored bySubaru and the American Associationfor theAdvancementof Science( A A A S ) .Megan alsoreceived thePres iden t i a lAward forExcellence inMath and Science Teaching in 2011 forher exceptional and innovative scienceteaching at Kenwood. Megan has pre-sented many STEM andAviation/Aerospace workshops in herregion. She has also received severaleducational grants such as the NationalDefense Industrial Association (NDIA)grant, Air Force Association grant, andTarget Department Stores grant. All ofthese grants helped support STEM ini-tiatives for materials and field trips for

her students. As an Aerospace Education

Member (AEM) of CAP, Megan hasbeen the coordinator for the CAPAerospace Connections in Education(ACE) Program where she has helpedKenwood Elementary School earn the2010 National ACE School of the Yearand ACE Coordinator of the YearAwards. Megan also initiated CAPTeacher Orientation Program (TOP)Flights for the ACE teachers atKenwood. Through her involvementwith CAP, Megan has presented work-shops for teachers across the countryand been involved in receiving trainingat workshops associated with CAP.

Megan Tucker has inspired manystudents and earned the respect of hercolleagues, as well as administratorsand parents. Her exceptional dedication

and commitment tousing aerospace toteach STEM subjectsto her students is whyshe was named theC A P N a t i o n a lTeacher of the Year.Congratulations toMegan and we wishher the best for thefuture!

“Using the ACE pro-gram has been such ablessing to my studentsas well as my entireschool! Aviation fasci-nation has taken overKenwood Elementaryand using aerospace issuch a powerful tool toengage students (andteachers) in learn-ing....”

.....Megan Tucker ACE students at Kenwood “take off” for the 2009-2010 Program

Megan at

Space Camp

Kenwood students preparing for rock-

et launch

Aerospace Education News Fall 2011 3

Lt Col Roland Dewing is the drivingforce behind the excellent AerospaceEducation program in NM Wing of CAP.Lt Col Dewing balances the cadet andsenior member AE needs with anextremely successful outreach programthat involves flying teachers in CAPTeacher Orientation Program (TOP)Flights and workshops. His programbuilds excitement within CAP, as well asin his community.

The biggest challenge to running asuccessful AE program in a wing isfinances. Lt Col Dewing has written agrant to the Boeing Corporation for thelast three years and has received sup-port to help with his program. This yearhe received $8,000 to support a veryactive TOP Flights program, cadet glid-er orientation flights, and to supply AEmaterials to the squadrons. With Lt ColDewing’s leadership, NM WG has flownhundreds of teachers over the last threeyears. This year alone, Lt Col Dewinghas recruited over 100 teachers to joinCAP as AEMs. He has also helped 99cadets receive one or more glider orien-tation flights this year.

Lt Col Dewing’s efforts areappreciated by the leaders in NMWG, as well. As Commander ofNM WG, Col Mark Smith, com-mented concerning Lt Col Dewing,“He is absolutely dedicated as a50-plus year CAP member to theAE mission. He constantly pro-motes AE, both internally andexternally. He imbues excitementamong our members and in thecommunity.”

Lt Col Roland Dewing is pas-sionate about anything AE related,from gliders to students learning

about aviation and space, he is alwaysthere to “get the job done.” Summer2011 was the initiation of the first annu-al AE Extravaganza for the NM Wing.Teachers from the Southeast attended,as well. We applaud Lt Col Dewing’soutstanding AE career in CAP and knowthat he will continue all of his greatefforts in the future.

“I contend that his [Lt Col Dewing’s]Teacher Orientation Program is among thebest in CAP - he flew 100 teachers last year,to include those from many of our ruralareas.”

---Col Mark E. Smith, Commander, NM WG, CAP

Aerospace Education Officer (AEO)Spotlight...............

CAP Aerospace Education Officer of the Year -

Lt Col Roland Dewing, NM WG DAE

Lt Col Dewing (far right) facilitates a teacher

workshop on airplane flight

Lt Col Dewing supports CAP squadrons with AE

4 Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

CAP’s 2011-2012 ACE Programcontinues to grow as currently, over 600ACE educators will be impacting aboutalmost 16,000 students in grades K-6across the country. What is the ACEProgram? It is a grade-level specificaerospace-themed program that focus-es on enriching STEM subjects to pro-vide relevance to academics, encour-age good moral character, and teachphysical fitness habits for living ahealthy and drug-free lifestyle. All pro-gram materials are provided free toteachers and include a national aca-demic standards-based curriculumguide, a lesson manipulative item foreach student, and special ACE t-shirts(while supplies last). Upon completionof the program, teachers receive anACE plaque, and each student receivesan ACE certificate. Learn moreabout this exciting program andhow to register by going towww.capmembers.com/ace.

The ACE Program materials areadditional to the materials received as anew Aerospace Education Member(AEM). Teachers registered by Sept.25, should receive ACE materials by theend of October. (Shirts shipped toschools may arrive later than other ACEitems.) The ACE curriculum guidesare also available online througheServices at https://www.capnhq.gov.After logging into eServices, click“AE Downloads and Resources” onthe left side of the screen, and thenscroll down to the ACE curriculumguides. Any member of CAP canaccess the ACE curriculum guidesonline at eServices.

After two years of field-testing theprogram and two years of open enroll-ment, CAP is beginning to receivereports that support the educationalmerit of this program and using aero-space education in the classroom. Forexample, fifth-grade students atKenwood Elementary School in FortWalton Beach, Florida, raised their 3and above achievement levels (with 5

being the highest) from 44% in 2009(pre-ACE Program) to 66% in 2011,wherein the fifth-grade students hadparticipated in the ACE Program duringtheir fourth- and fifth-grade years.Kenwood’s students performed betterthan both the district and the state in2011. Another example is from VanBuren Elementary School in Van Buren,Ohio. ACE teacher and aerospaceenthusiast Beppie Walerius reportedthat their fifth-graders had the highestscience scores in the county! Ms.Walerius stated, “This validates howaerospace education CAN and DOEScover state and national standards. Wehad a 96.3% passage rate! And, whatthe statistics don’t show is that therewere NO students performing at a limit-ed level, only three at the basic level,and only 12 at proficient level. ALL ofthe rest were either advanced or accel-erated! That’s an amazing statement forthe power of hands-on aerospace moti-vation! Thanks for the CAP support andACE curriculum!”

CAP offers much gratitude andappreciation to additional organizationsand companies that helped sponsor thisyear’s program. Contributions from theAir Force Association (AFA), FLIRSystems, Inc., Sertifi, Prattville RotaryClub, and Lightspeed AviationFoundation are helping CAP reacheven more students this year. If you arean elementary educator in grades K-6and are interested in participatingthis year, please send an inquiryemail to Angie St. John atastjohn@capnhq.gov. If you arealready an ACE teacher, stay up-to-date with the latest ACE announce-ments, stories, and resources atwww.capmembers.com/aceteachers.Also, please continue to email yourACE stories and pictures toace@capnhq.gov. It is your successstories that encourage sponsorship ofthis program, inspire other educators,and promote the use of aerospace edu-cation in the classroom to propel stu-

dents “onward and upward” in their per-sonal, social, and academic achieve-ment.

K-6 Aerospace Connections in Education(ACE) Program - Reaching New Heights!

Top: Beth Elwood’s 2010-2011 class at

Wright Elementary in Florida demon-

strate Bernoulli masks

Middle: Reward system idea (Caught

Being an Ace)

Bottom: Laura Pink of Antioch

Elementary School in Florida - showing

her aviation spirit at an ACE workshop

for teachers

“This validates how aerospaceeducation CAN and DOES coverstate and national stan-dards...Thanks for the CAP sup-port and ACE curriculum!” ---Beppie Walerius, OH ACE Teacher

Aerospace Education News Fall 2011 5

AerospaceEducationNotes......

AMA and CAPALL CAP cadets are eligible to

take advantage of the free Academy ofModel Aeronautics (AMA) membership.

Look for an AMA club near yoursquadron to partner with and learnmore about model aeronautics. Formore information, go tohttp://www.modelaircraft.org/mem

bership/clubs.aspx or to find outmore about AMA, go tohttp://www.modelaircraft.org/.

AMA has a program called Take-Off and Grow (or TAG) to introducemodel aviation to youth. Go to the web-site and find out more about this oppor-tunity to partner with your local AMAclub. Teachers may want to check outthe TAG program to see if it would be away to connect classroom learning to afun event.

AMA also offers teachers curricu-lum support with such materials asAeroLab. These materials are availablefor middle school physical science andmath programs and may be found bycon tac t i ng AMA a t educa

tion@modelaircraft.org.The AeroLabDVD/CD featuring activities developedby science teachers for teachers,

thanks to the generous support of theAlcoa Foundation, is being given toevery CAP Teacher Member at no cost.AeroLab lessons feature simple foamand balsa aircraft as tools to teach theconcepts of force and motion, poten-tial/kinetic energy and centripetal force.The activities also allow students topractice important math skills to deter-mine average speed and distance

Outstanding AE StarsCAP is fortunate enough to have

many dedicated, innovative, and hard-working volunteers in the aerospaceeducation duty position. For these vol-unteers, aerospace education is notjust a duty position, but a calling and apassion. They provide seniors, cadets,and the community in which they live,an opportunity to share their passion. We wish to recognize two of these indi-viduals in this portion of the AEnewsletter. One is Washington Wing’sLt Col Richard Edgerton. Rich is notonly the author of the upcoming AEXfor Advanced Math book, but alsoinspires and provides his cadets withspecial experiences. Recently, he com-bined efforts for cadets acrossWashington Wing with students fromthree Seattle area high schools for achat with astronauts aboard the

International Space Station (ISS). Thisonce-in-a-lifetime event was held at theMuseum of Flight in Seattle on August29. Rich provided not only the opportu-nity for the ISS downlink event, but alsomade the experience even more mean-ingful with a sleepover at the museumthe night before the downlink. Rich pro-vided a challenge for the cadets to par-ticipate in before “lights out”. Thecadets were toconstruct robotswhose task wascollecting “spacejunk” and deposit-ing the pieces in acontainer. Afterthis activity,cadets went out-side to watch theISS transit thenight sky. Therewere many other AE activities the

cadets were able to partici-pate in at this event. What awonderful and memorableexperience for the cadets andseniors that made the trip! Wethank Rich for his unceasingenergy and commitment toprovide the best AE programfor his cadets.

Another stellar AE leader, Lt ColKathleen Beauford (AE Officer for LA093), provides a very educational andextensive AE display at the LA WGConference and other events in LA.Kathy not only displays, but educatesthose who stop and ask questions orneed more information about AE. Kathyand other AEOs who attend wing con-ferences have a unique opportunity toshare the AE mission with the seniorsand cadets in attendance, thus execut-ing the mission of CAP. Thanks for allthe great work, Kathy!

WA WG Cadets (bottom and above

right) participate in event at Seattle’s

Museum of Flight

Kathy’s AE display (top)

Cadet shows interest (bottom)

6 Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

CURRICUL UM CORNER.. . . .K-4

MARS CRITTERSNASA’S DESTINATION: MARS

Objective:

Students will design a plant or animallife form that might survive on Mars.

National Science Standards:

Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry• Abilities necessary to do scientific

inquiry• Understanding about scientific

inquiryContent Standard C: Life Science

• The characteristics of organisms• Organisms and environment

Unifying Concepts and Processes•Form and function

Grade Level(s): K-4

Background Information:

Life on Earth exhibits the followingcommon characteristics: take in food,give off waste products, breathe, grow,react to surroundings, and make moreof their kind by some form of reproduc-tion.

Life on Mars would have to exhibitthe same characteristics if we use thetraditional definition of life, but in a dif-ferent type of environment. Mars is dif-ferent from Earth in the following ways:• the atmosphere of Mars is very thinand does not block the harmful solarradiation;• temperatures are very cold and canget as low as 200 degrees below freez-ing;• water resources are limited and diffi-cult to obtain;•the dominant gas in the air is carbondioxide with very little oxygen;• gravity is about 1/3 of Earth’s;• the Martian surface is dusty and red,and huge duststorms occasionallysweep over the plains, darkening theentire planet for days; • instead of a blue sky, a dusty pink skywould hang overhead; and• there are no plants or animals on the

surface of Mars to serve as food.Animals and plants on Earth live in

extreme conditions and survive. Someof these conditions are: the harsh, dry,cold valleys of Antarctica; the oceandepths with high pressures and no sun-light; and deep rock formations whereorganisms have no contact with organicmaterial or sunlight from the surface.

Materials:

• paper (construction, tag board, bulletinboard, etc.)• colored pencils • glue• items to decorate the critter (rice, mac-aroni, glitter, cereal, candy, yarn, string,beads, etc.)• chart paper for teacher to recordresponses• pictures of living organisms from Earth• pictures of the surface of Mars• Student Sheet (on page 7)

Procedure:1. Teacher should gather materials andset up various art supplies in smallgroups (2-3 students per group).2. Search online or in books for picturesof Mars and living things on Earth for adisplay.3. Ask the students: “What is a livingthing?” Write all answers on chartpaper.4. Discuss the difference between livingand nonliving things. Compare a bearand a chair. They both have legs, butone can move on its own and the othercannot. Also, the bear breathes and thechair does not. The bear grows andchanges and the chair does not. Thebear can have baby bears but the chaircannot have baby chairs. Show picturesof living things (both plants and ani-mals) and discuss what how they arealike in the characteristics that makethem considered living things.5. Now show the students pictures ofMars and talk about the differences ofthe environment of Mars compared toEarth. (See Background Information fora beginning and then go online at -http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ - to find pic-tures and descriptions of Mars.) 6. Have students work individually or asa small group to construct a MarsCritter. Have them discuss the charac-teristics of their animal that will allow itto live on Mars. 7. Have each student or group sharetheir Mars Critter with the class.

Summary:This activity allows students to thinkabout what a living thing is and how lifeon another planet would be differentthan life on Earth.

Evaluation:Evaluate students or small groups onthe creativity and science behind theircreations.

Extension:1.Books that you can read about Marsto enhance this lesson are: The Mars

Plants and animals

like the ones above

can be used to illus-

trate life on Earth

Aerospace Education News Fall 2011 7

Rovers by Lucile Davis and Max Goesto Mars: A Science Adventure with Maxthe Dog by Jeffrey Bennett and AlanOkamoto. 2. For the complete curriculum thatincludes this lesson, go tohttp://er.jsc.gov/seh/destmars.pdf.The guide is called Destination: Mars.

K-4 Curriculum CornerContinued. . .

Student Sheet for Mars Critters

Name(s) __________________________________________________________________________________________

Use the art materials and draw and design a Mars Critter. Write the answers to the questions below or tell the answers

to your class when you present your critter to them.

1. What is your critter’s name? ___________________________________________

2. Tell where the critter lives and what the weather is like?

3. How does your critter move?

4. What does your critter eat?

5. How does your critter defend itself from danger?

6. Does your critter live alone or in groups?

7. What else would you like people to know about your critter?

8 Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

Objective:

Students will be able to:•Identify Mars Rovers and their parts•Use creative thinking and problem solvingskills to design a rover with edible parts

National Science Standards:

Content Standard A: Science as Inquiry• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry• Understandings about scientific inquiryContent Standard E: Science andTechnology• Abilities of technological designUnifying Concepts and Processes• Evidence, models, and explanation

Grade Level: 5-12

Background Information:

Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)Spirit and Opportunity were designed tostudy the history of water on Mars attheir landing sites and to uncover geo-logic clues about whether Mars had anyenvironments wet enough in the past tohave been hospitable to life. Spirit andOpportunity completed their 90-day pri-mary missions in late April 2004. Today,a remarkable seven years and severalmission extensions later, Opportunity,continues exploring Mars. Spirit lastcommunicated on March 22, 2010, asMartian winter approached and therover's solar-energy supply declined.

The latest Mars exploration projectfrom NASA is the Mars ScienceLaboratory (MSL). A rover namedCuriosity is scheduled to launchbetween November 25 and December18, 2011 and to land on Mars at GaleCrater between August 6 and August

20, 2012. The Curiosity rover will helpassess Mars’s habitability, that is,whether Mars is, or ever was an envi-ronment able to support microbial life. Itwill also analyze samples scooped upfrom the soil and drilled powders fromrocks. The Curiosity will be more thanfive times as massive, and carry morethan ten times the mass of scientificinstruments as the rovers, Spirit andOpportunity. The total cost of the MSLproject is about $2.3 billion.

Materials:

Suggested Materials to Build EdibleRover (per student or group of 2-3):• 3 graham crackers

• 1 roll of Smarties™ candy• 6 creme wafer cookies• 1-2 large marshmallows• 1 snack-size Kit Kat™ • 1 straw• 1 container of frosting (to help glue

components together)• 1 Peppermint Patty• 6 Rolo candies or Reese’s Peanut

Butter Cups™• 7 toothpicks• 1-2 gumdrops• scissors• 1 plastic knife• 1 sturdy paper plate or cardboard

sheet for building platform• paper towels• anti-bacterial hand wipes• access to internet for research on rovers• Student Worksheet (on page 9)NOTE: The materials for this activity canbe divided up for student (or parent volun-teers) to supply. Another way to offset thecost of this activity is to plan it after a majorholiday when candy is on sale or closeout,such as Halloween or Easter.

Procedure:

1. Introduce students to the MER roversand the MSL rover. Show pictures fromthe internet or make copies to share.The MER site can be found athttp://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/

mer/ and the MSL site is located athttp://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

CURRICUL UM CORNER(Grades 5 -1 2 ). . . .

EDIBLE MARS ROVERADAPTED FROM JEAN SETTLE’S“EDIBLE ROCKETS”

Curiosity

Opportunity

Top: Instruments on MER rover

Bottom: Instruments on MSL rover

Sample

edible

rovers

Aerospace Education News Fall 2011 9

C u r r i c u l u m C o r n e r ( G r a d e s 5 - 1 2 ) c o n t i n u e d . . . .

2. Pass out the materials to each groupof 2-3.3. The students need to decide whichrover (MER or MSL or one of their owndesign) they will construct with thematerials provided. NOTE: Pre-baggingthe materials in a plastic baggie aheadof time makes handing out the materialseasier.4. Groups should decide which engi-neering design is best suited for theirrover. Have groups decide what thepurpose of their rover is and what is

needed to accomplish the mission inthe restricted environment of Mars. 5. Have each group present the resultsof the Student Sheet and the model tothe class.6. If food safety has been followed inthis activity, the models may be eatenafter the lesson is over.

Summary:

In this activity, students learn about theparts of the rover as well as goingthrough the engineering process and

problem solving within the group.

Evaluation:

Student Worksheet and presentation ofthe rover by the group will be theassessment for this activity.

Extension:

Have students compete for the best ormost creative design. Have anotherclass or teachers judge the models.

Edible Mars Rover Student Worksheet

Team Members: _____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Collect materials from your teacher.

2. Research the Mars rovers using these websites: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/ and

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. Use the diagrams at the bottom or your research to fill in the charts.

3. As a team, decide on a design and mission for your rover and finish the worksheet.

CAPABILITYNEEDED TECHNOLOGY OR

INSTRUMENT

a. Rolls on a hard surface

b. Receives commands from

Earth; sends data and images

back to Earth

c. Makes panoramic images of

the environment

d. Makes scientific measure-

ments of rocks or soil

e. Powers itself using the light

of the Sun

NEEDED TECHNOLOGY OR

INSTRUMENT

WHAT PIECE OF CANDY

WILL YOU USE?

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

MSL

Rover

MER Rover

Mars Rover, Curiosity

10 Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

CAP’s continues to share thedeepest respect for and appreciation tothe Air Force Association for the manyyears of financial support enabling theperpetuation of the AE Mission viaCAP’s youth development programs forCAP units and teacher members.This quarter, appreciation is extendedto the AFA for providing $250 AEgrants to teachers selected in a com-petitive grant application process.The fall quarter grant winners, theirschools, and their excellent AE proj-ects are as follows:

AFA/CAP AE Grant Winners

(2011 fall cycle - teachers)

• Tanya Anderson, St. Joan of ArcSchool, Lisle, IL – Fired UP Fridays AEProgram• Teri Boxberger, Walker Elementary,Crestview, FL – Science Fair Program• Geoffrey Chandler, Wesley LakesElementary, McDonough, GA—After-school Aerospace Club• Bonnie Dertz & Anne Matousek,Freeport Middle School, Freeport, IL –First LEGO League Competition• Celeste DeVine, Anthem School,Anthem AZ – Hot Air Balloon Event• Scott Erickson, Milton High School,Milton, FL – PASCO Passport SoundLevel Sensors• Dee Freewert, Space Science 4Schools, Incline Village, NV--AviationDay and NV Space Day MuseumOutreach Initative• Debbie Hamilton, Antioch ChristianAcademy, Lumberton, NC—CAP’sJourney of Flight Program• Mike Hansen, Linden School,Malden, MA—SpectrometerIdentification of Composition of Stars• Janie Hill, Gardner Math, Science, &Technology Magnet, Hot Springs, AR—School Library of Aerospace Books• James Johnson, Children’s Centerfor Treatment & Education, Custer City,PA – Orthographic/Isometric RocketDesign• Penny Lamb, Webster SpringsMiddle School, Webster Springs, WV—Seattle Museum of Flight/CarnegieScience Center Day in the Park Trip

• Tammy Leker, CrestwoodElementary, North Little Rock, AR --CAP’s Robotics ProgramImplementation• Kurt Lichtenwald, Helen KellerElementary School, Green Bay, WI –Team Teaching Aviation CareerDevelopment Program• Julie Lloyd, Hawthorne Elementary,Salt Lake City, UT – RockSimComputer Rocketry Program• Lori Loadholtz, San Jose CatholicSchool, Jacksonville, FL – After-schoolRobotics Program for Middle School• Benjamin Lucero, South MoutainHigh School Aerospace MagnetProgram, Phoenix, AZ – CAP’s Journeyof Flight Extension to Pima Air/SpaceMuseum• Tammy Martin, Dekalb CountySchools Annex, Rainsville, AL –Aerospace Career Exploration Program• Laura Pink, Antioch Elementary,Crestview, FL—School-wideTeacher/Student Rocketry Program• Michael Reynolds, E-Techs CharterHigh, Sparks, NV—Scuba DivingNeutral Buoyancy Program • Lee Wheeler, Dooly County High,Vienna, GA—High School TARC TeamDevelopment• Rebecca Wood, KemmererElementary, Diamondville, WY—SpaceProgram: Learning, Teaching YoungerStudents, & Space Day Event

Congratulations! And, much grati-

tude to the Air Force Association!

Recent AFA Grant recipients share

after-action appreciation:

Carl McElwee, AE Officer for Kansas123 Squadron, used his AFA Grantfunds to conduct an open house forcadets and adults to work together to

build and fly radio-controlled aircraft.Bringing in youth in the community pro-vides an opportunity for more youngpeople to learn about what the CAP andAFA do for youth in communities acrossthe country.

CAP and AFA Work Together for

Outreach AE Initiaties in

Communities

The Arizona Wing AerospaceEducation Team honored Veteranswhile introducing the community toCAP. The AZ Wing works alongside theAZ Air Force Association to recruitcadets and teachers for CAP’s cadetand AE programs. This partnership setsthe standard for how CAP and the AFAcan work together to both fulfill the mis-sion to educate the public about theimportance of aerospace and our mili-tary in the future security of our nation.We applaud the AZ Wing of CAP andthe AZ State AFA leaders for leveragingtheir resources for the good of ourcountry.

Once again, CAP extends sincere

gratitude to the AFA for dedicated

support to the youth of America!

To check out the updated AFAPartnership page on CAP’s AE Website, goto www.capmembers.com/afa. Thereanyone can find out how to join a localAFA chapter; how the AFA providesgrants and opportunities for CAP cadet,adult, and teacher members; and all theways CAP is reciprocally trying to assistlocal AFA Museum Initiative to find outhow CAP, AFA, and AerospaceMuseums can work together to providea powerful synergy to inspire the nextgeneration of air, space, and cyber-space workforce.

Air Force Association Partnership

Thank You

Air Force Association!

Aerospace Education News Fall 2011 11

From The Deputy Director’sDesk........Dr. Jeff Montgomery

The 5th annual AE Summit tookplace in Louisville, KY, on August 18,2011, at the Summer National Boardand Conference. Lt Col Mike McArdle,National AEA d v i s o r ,presided overthe summit,which wasattended by18 wing,region andNHQ folks. Included in the agendawere presentations from the AELeadership Teams. Several membersof the teams presented status reportson their projects. Some of the presenta-tions included: proposed changes toCAPR 280-2 and CAPR 50-20; a pro-posed survey concerning AEO issues tobe distributed to Aerospace EducationOfficers (AEOs); a report on recruit-ing/retaining Aerospace EducationMembers (AEMs) that included a dis-cussion about workshops and academ-ic credits; progress on the AE StaffCollege; discussion about the AEOSchools; wing and region finances asthey relate to AE; compliance inspec-tions; grants; available AE resources;TOP Flight regulation; and several cur-riculum projects. Wonderful discus-sions and ideas flowed during and aftereach of the presentations. Greatprogress has been made in all of theseareas, and the teams are working theseprojects to completion. The hard workand dedicated efforts from the teamsare very evident and much appreciated.The new AE Leadership Team structureis working very well, and this summitattests to that. Thanks to all of the AEOswho attended, and also to those whoprepared reports, but were unable toattend. The next AE Summit will be inBaltimore, MD, in August 2012 at theSummer National Board.

We would like to applaud the winnersof this year’s AE awards. Here is a list-ing of those winners:

Brewer Awards:

Cadet Category I – C/Maj AaronEvans, Indiana Wing

Senior Member Category II – Maj PamBecker, Florida WingIndividual/Organization Category III

– Thomas Milnes (Evergreen Museum)

Lifetime Achievement Category IV –Col John Barainca, Utah Wing

AEO of the Year – Lt Col RolandDewing, New Mexico Wing

National AE Teacher of the Year –Megan Tucker, Florida

A E M i s s i o n A w a r d s :

National 1st place – FloridaNational 2nd place – TexasNational 3rd place – New YorkAE Regional Mission Awards:

Northeast – New YorkMiddle East – North CarolinaSoutheast – FloridaGreat Lakes – WisconsinNorth Central – MinnesotaSouthwest – TexasRocky Mt – ColoradoPacific - Washington

Answers to questions on front

page:

1. Compared to the previous Mars

rovers, Curiosity is about twice as

long and more than five times as

heavy.

2. A radioisotope power source will

provide heat and electric power to

the rover.

3. Curiosity should arrive on Mars

in August 2012.

Photos show CAP National Commander

Brig Gen Amy Courter, presenting the

awards to each recipient. (Pam Becker

and Megan Tucker were unable to attend

but the FL Wing Commander, Lt Col

Michael Cook, accepted on their behalf.)

NORTHEAST REGIONOctober 27-29

National Science Teachers Association(NSTA) will hold an Area Conference inHartford, Connecticut at theConnecticut Convention Center. CAPAE will be present in the exhibit hall.Stop by and see us in booth #627.

http://www.nsta.org/conferences/

2011har/?lid=tnav

November 30 - December 2

The Pennsylvania Science TeachersAssociation Conference will be held atthe Hershey Lodge and ConferenceCenter in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

http://pascience.org/

MIDDLE EAST REGIONNovember 2-4

The South Carolina Science Council willhold its annual fall conference at theMrytle Beach Convention Center inMyrtle Beach, South Carolina. http://www.southcarolinascience.org/

GREAT LAKES REGIONOctober 27-29

The Illinois Science EducationConference will be held at Tinley ParkConvention Center in Chicago, Illinois.

http://www.ista-il.org/

December 3

The Engineering Education ServiceCenter is offering a Train the Trainerworkshop for those interested in pre-senting a Mother/Daughter TechnologyEngineering Aptitude (TEA) event. Thisworkshop will be held in Columbus,Ohio.

http://www.engineeringedu.com/

pw/register.html

SOUTHEAST REGIONOctober 20-22

The Florida Association of ScienceTeachers will hold its ProfessionalDevelopment Conference at theInternational Palms Resort in Orlando,Florida.

http://www.fastscience.org/

November 12-13

2011 Fantasy of Flight Airshow will be heldin Polk City, Florida.

http://www.fantasyoflight.com/roar-n-

soar/

February 16-18, 2012

The 2012 Georgia Science TeachersAssociation Annual Conference will be held inAtlanta, Georgia.

http://www.georgiascienceteacher.org/

NORTH CENTRAL REGIONNo events for this issue.

SOUTHWEST REGIONNovember 10-12

NSTA Area Conference will be held inNew Orleans, Louisiana.

http://www.nsta.org/conferences/

2011new/?lid=tnav

November 17-19Science Teachers Association of Texaswill hold the Conference for theAdvancement of Science Teaching atthe Dallas Convention Center in Dallas,Texas.

http://stat.org/cast2011

No events for this issue.

October 21-23

The California Science TeachersAssociation Conference will be held inPasadena, California at the PasadenaConvention Center.

http://www.clasroomscience.org/

conference

November 12

The Engineering Education ServiceCenter is offering a Train the Trainerworkshop for those interested in pre-senting a Mother/Daughter TechnologyEngineering (TEA) event. This work-shop will be held in Eugene, Oregon.

http://www.engineeringedu.com/

pw/register.html

November 12-13

Aviation Nation 2011 airshow cele-brates 70 years of air power in LasVegas. This event will be held at NellisAir Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada.

http://www.nellis.af.mil/

aviationnation/

December 8-10

NSTA Area Conference will be held inSeattle, Washington.

http://www.nsta.org/conferences/

2011sea/?lid=tnav

January 5-8, 2012

The 10th annual Hawaii InternationalConference on Education will be held atthe Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel inHonolulu, Hawaii.

http://www.hieducation.org/

A Nationwide Real World Challenge!

Team registration for the FREE FY12Real World Design Challenge (RWDC)is now open! This annual aviationdesign competition is for teams of3-7 high school students.TheChallenge is FREE for students andteachers. Each teacher that signs up ateam will receive $1 million in profes-sional engineering software, as well asaccess to mentors from industry, gov-ernment, and academia. Every statechampion team receives an all-expens-es-paid trip to Washington, D.C.Students have earned paid intern-ships through their participation.And last year’s National Champions gotto present their work to PresidentObama at the White House. UntilNovember 18th, schools can sign up asmany teams as wanted, and canchange the team members betweenregistration and the beginning of thecompetition, if needed. To find out moreabout this year’s Challenge, go towww.realworlddesignchallenge.org

and click the link to register a team. Cadets: Share this with your leadersAND your teachers!

12 Fall 2011 Aerospace Education News

REGION TO REGIONREGION TO REGION

Special Events

PACIFIC REGION

ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION

For information on other pertinent dates for CAP

Members and Educators, go to our calendar at

www.capmembers.com/ae.