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Nomads team up with local school to bring math, science to life at museum

  • Published
  • By Chrissy Cuttita
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Eight 33rd Fighter Wing Nomads, including the wing commander, volunteered to join Shalimar Elementary School educators in leading the second annual "Engineers for America" program at the Air Armament Museum here Feb. 18-19.

"The students came back excited about aeronautics and aviation and most can now see a real world application to math and science," said Karen Meadows Spencer, a teacher at Shalimar Elementary School. "The students were on task and motivated, sometimes captivated by their sortie leader."

There were approximately 53 fifth graders each day - an amount she said was a lot of students to keep on task and motivated.

Volunteers ran a 30-minute lesson at one of five designed stations, called "sorties." Students were required to perform a hands-on experiment and record observations. They rotated to the stations in groups of 10 or more.

"In my career, I have been afforded the opportunity to work on various aircraft, from fighters all the way up to the B-52," said Tech. Sgt. Gordon Talbot, 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, who said he was always interested in aviation and history of how it was discovered. "If I can motivate one student further in their dreams, I have succeeded."

The program consisted of five stations. At one station, students dropped hand-made parachutes from the second floor with weight and timed the event to see if heavier weights equal faster falls. Another similar station used paper helicopters.

Students set up "circuit boards" using batteries and magnets at a different station. They then challenged each other in a timed event using Tinker Toys to see who could build the tallest structure using lessons on simple engineering. There was also the opportunity to learn about the Doolittle Raiders in an activity that required flying a balsam wood airplane through two fans that were meters away.

Patience was what contributed the most to success according to Sergeant Talbot whose success story was seeing students working together.

"For the most part, they helped each other out with all the tasks," said the Nomad, who applied his 20 years of military aviation maintenance experience to the job at hand. "This made it easy for the volunteers to open up and relay the information in a fun way. Changing the tasking to fit all the students made the task at hand more understanding to each student in their own way."

Just being a sergeant in uniform was something teachers felt added to the student's learning.

"For our students, it is great to see a military member in action within our community," said Ms. Spencer. "We talk to them about their service to our country and the personal commitment it takes to join the military, but some of them have no connection to the military and do not see the positive points of military service. Many of them only hear what comes from the news which can be misleading. We appreciate all that our service members do, in or out of our community, especially our 33rd FW friends."

Sergeant Talbot said he hoped students returned from the museum with the knowledge that they have the future in their hands.

"Those who take the next step and put their ideas to use make great creators," he said. "It wasn't too long ago we all thought cell phones were science fiction."

According to the Air Armament Museum's website more school visits are scheduled, compliments of Engineers for America, a locally conceived program that builds on national and state emphasis on science and engineering studies for elementary and middle school students. The Air Force Armament Museum Foundation and representatives of local colleges and universities developed a curriculum that portrays practical real world engineering problems that interest and motivate younger students.