In a week that featured astronauts adding a new observation deck to the International Space Station 220 miles above Earth, the success of the Northrop Grumman Foundation's Weightless Flights of Discovery program and its potential to inspire students globally was highlighted at the International Space University's 14th Annual Symposium.
In helping to support the conference theme of "The Public Face of Space," Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems vice president Tom Vice spoke of his personal experience in flying in weightless environments with middle school teachers as part of the company's commitment to energizing math and science teachers and growing the next generation of future engineers and technologists.
"Our success in solving our nation's-and our world's-shortage of engineers begins with inspiring our teachers and capturing the hearts and minds of students at a young age. This program transports educators into an environment where they participate in hands-on science workshops and then experience a parabolic "zero-g" environment similar to an astronaut's training. Teachers bring those real-world experiences-like Newton's Law of Gravity-back into the classroom and replicate those studies with their young students," Vice said.
"It is transformational for them as well as the children."
Vice said the specific goal of the foundations' efforts is to focus on the United States' need for more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
"I'm honored to have been a part of the program since its inception in 2006. Over the past four years, we have conducted 38 flights in 18 cities across the United States engaging 1,120 teachers and reaching over 450,000 students. What's very interesting is that our first year of flights included teachers from 24 countries," he added.
Results of the Northrop Grumman WFOD program on STEM education have been very strong. Of the teachers polled after participating in the 2009 program:
+ 98 percent said WFOD significantly inspired their teaching career;
+ 93 percent noticed an increase in their students' interest in science/math;
+ 85 percent said students disinterested in science/math became interested;
+ More students say they want to study science/math in high school and college; and
+ More students say they want to pursue science/math careers.
"There is incredible value in the collaboration that comes from the partnership between industry and education in the United States and around the world. Our teachers, researchers and students are the thinkers and the dreamers. High technology companies like Northrop Grumman enable those dreams to become reality in the form of well-paying jobs for very talented people who create cutting-edge innovation and new technology for our military and civilian customers," Vice said.
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