Virtual Aeronautics Exploration: Engaging Simulations for Middle and High Schoolers

1. Presented by NASA Glenn Research Center LTP Team

2. Development Team • 2 Software Programmers – developers of 5 NASA simulations for grades 5-12 audience • 2 Educators – Masters in Physics, Masters in Education • 1 Flash/Web Developer, User Interface Designer • 3 Editors (grammar, scientific accuracy, technical content)

3. Development and In-kind Partners • Glenn Research and Technology Directorate • Glenn Engineering and Technical Services Directorate • Glenn Space Directorate • Glenn Summer Student Internship Program • Center of Science and Industry (COSI) Toledo • Science Olympiad Coaches • RSIS/NCI Information Systems, Inc.

4. 2003 ProposalImmersive Interactive Wind Tunnel Simulator • Remote connection from a small user-controlled wind tunnel running on the Web to an immersive RAVE environment. • Project accepted and funded for FY03.

5. Immersive Interactive Wind Tunnel Simulator Alignment with LTP Objectives • One user system. • Not portable to schools. • Web-based only; not compatible with ExP.

6. 2003 Proposal ReworkNovember – December 2002 • Consulted with partners, educators, LT Project Office representative, and NASA scientists and engineers. • Simulations considered: 3D BaseballSim, 3D Kites, and 3D Rockets.

7. 2003 Proposal Rework (cont.)Recommendation Virtual Aeronautics Exploration with new Water Rocket package (student activities and simulator) was recommended by educators and Science Olympiad coaches as the most usable learning package.

8. 2003 Proposal Rework (cont.)Increased Use of Bottle Rockets • In the past, Estes model rockets, as well as bottle rockets, were used extensively to teach principles such as acceleration, thrust, and drag. • Recent Federal legislation regulating transport of explosive materials has made obtaining the small solid-fuel engines for such rockets problematic. • Therefore, educators are using bottle rockets more and more in their classrooms/laboratories. • Bottle rockets are safer, cheaper, and more available than model rockets.

9. 2003 Proposal Rework (cont.)Potential Immediate Audience • Grades 5-8 students from NASA Explorer Schools (NES). • The Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA) sites via the Aeronautics Education Laboratory (AEL) Curriculum. • NASA Student Involvement Program (NSIP), Aerospace Technology Engineering Challenge participants. • Dropping in a Microgravity Environment (DIME) Aerospace Technology Engineering Challenge participants. • Science Olympiad participants. • Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. • Aerospace Clubs.

10. 2003 Proposal Rework (cont.)Physical ScienceTeaching Tool • Educators say, “Two-liter pop bottle rockets may well be the greatest physical science teaching tool ever created!!” • Middle grades students can manipulate and control variables, see their hypotheses verified or refuted, and graph their findings. • High school students experience the nature of science at its best. They can document their abilities with the following concepts: inertia, gravity, air resistance, Newton's laws of motion, acceleration, relationships between work and energy or impulse and momentum, projectile motion, freefall calculations, internal and external ballistics, and the practice of true engineering.

11. 2003 Proposal Rework (cont.)December 2002 • Recommendation presented to LT Project Office. • Product Data Sheet written and approved.

12. Virtual Aeronautics Exploration – Alignment with LT Objectives • Multi user. • Not solely Web-based – available on CD, but can also reside on Web for greater distribution. • Self running – with educator and learner materials. • Uses Java 3D technology - 3D graphics easily integrated with 2D Java functionality. • Meets National Science, Mathematics, and Technology Standards. • In support of the No Child Left Behind Act, provides educator guidelines for developing inquiry-based lessons incorporating 3D simulations.

13. Development Timeline

14. Objectives • Develop a 3D application that helps students visualize and internalize aeronautics concepts, with hook in place to scale to immersive CAVE hardware/software equipment. • Develop three to five comprehensive and high-quality lesson plans that lead the user through a basic understanding of selected aeronautics principles through interaction with 3D visualization. • Provide guidance and principles for incorporating a 3D application in inquiry-based science/mathematics lesson plans.   

15. Deliverables • WaterRocketSim Prototype completed and alpha tested. • Three lessons, Rocket Research 101, 102, and 103, developed and alpha tested. • Educator Section includes: • Alignment with National Science, Mathematics, and Technology Standards. • Explanation of inquiry-based, problem-based, and project based learning. • Chart outlining alignment with 5Es instructional model for inquiry-based learning. • Online form for submittal of additional inquiry-based lesson plans using WaterRocketSim.

16. Milestones for Phase 1 - 100% Complete

17. Phase 2 October 03 – December 03 • Add scientist voice-overs and movie clips to key points in lessons to improve accessibility to handicapped. • Enhance launch background graphic. • Enhance launch graphic by rotating bottle rocket image to fall nose down. • Add certificate of completion for each lesson. December 03 – January 04 • Add bottle burst animation for excessive pressure/water. • Add wobble to the bottle flight to show the effects of drag and a more realistic launch. • Add wind component to launch.

18. Phase 2 (cont.) January 04 – September 04 • Beta test Virtual Aeronautics Exploration through COSI Toledo educator focus group, 5 Glenn-served NASA Explorer Schools, and 13 SEMAA sites via the AEL Curriculum. • Modify simulation. • Add input box for user to input drag data from their own testing. • Add atmospheric pressure input box so user can input their location’s data. • Add temperature input box so user can input their location’s daily temperature. • Add environment presets: Mt. Everest, Cleveland, Denver, Mars, the Moon. • Show Center of Gravity and Center of Pressure points in launch graphic.

19. Phase 2 (cont.) January 04 – September 04 • Add 3-5 lessons with student activities. • Add Drag hands-on activity: Drop 2 liter bottle from fixed height and record times. • Possibly add extension activity: Collaborate with DIME Competition so that students can test their experiments in the GRC Drop Tower. • Add ability to graph two flights and incorporate the JSC Math Description Engine, which allows accessibility to handicapped by generating descriptive text, visual graphics, and/or sonification of mathematical graphs.

20. Phase 2 (cont.) FY05 • Add 3-5 lessons with student activities. • Collaborate with Tom Gaskins of the LT Project Office to port Virtual Aeronautics Exploration to handheld PCs. • Transport data into CAVE to allow users to become the center of gravity on the rocket and experience the launch in an immersive environment through videoconferencing and 3D goggles/glasses.

21. Phase 1 Funding

22. Phase 2 Funding Requested

23. Code N Education Review Process We evaluated the Virtual Aeronautics Exploration using the exemplary NASA educational product criteria created by Dr. Adena Loston, and the following slides show how we rated by category.

24. Review Process (cont.) Customer Focused: Designed to respond to a need identified by the education community. • Educator Section supports the No Child Left Behind Act through alignment with National standards, an explanation of inquiry-based and project based learning, and an online form for educators to submit inquiry-based lesson plans. • Helps teachers integrate technology into the subjects they teach. • Age and grade-level appropriate educational content was developed by a high school Physics teacher (former aerospace senior research scientist) and reviewed by a NASA aeronautical engineer for scientific accuracy. • Helps students develop essential mathematics and science skills using technology in a challenging, motivating way.

25. Review Process (cont.) Content: Tied to and makes direct use of NASA content. Makes comparison of bottle rocket to NASA rocket. • Links to NASA’s contributions to the history of rocketry, rocket educational materials, and rocket propulsion research. • Informative learning in support of student proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. (Laws of Motion; Thrust; Acceleration; Center of Gravity; Stability; Drag; Area Calculations; Prediction; Center of Pressure). • Promotes careers by providing a true engineering experience and encourages participation in the NSIP Aerospace Technology Engineering Challenge. • To be added to the Aeronautics Education Laboratory (AEL). • To be promoted to the Educator Astronaut Earth Crews.

26. Review Process (cont.) Pipeline: Designed to attract a diverse population to careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology by providing a true engineering experience. • Allows NES, SEMAA, and EA students and others to design an experiment, test it through a 3D computer application, and compare their online results with an actual test in the field. • In collaboration with the National Center for Microgravity Research DIME Competition, Phase 2 will provide an opportunity for conducting a student-designed experiment on measuring drag in the GRC drop tower. • Users are encouraged to extend their learning by participating in the NSIP Aerospace Technology Engineering Challenge. • Utilized Glenn Summer Student Internship Program to obtain Java 3D programmer.

27. Review Process (cont.) Diversity: Designed to reach underrepresented minorities and/or people with disabilities. • Supports closing the gap in science and mathematics proficiency among diverse populations through NASA Explorer Schools and the Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Aerospace Academies (SEMAA). • Will target in-service populations through NASA Explorer Schools’ professional development opportunities. • Additional voice-overs will improve accessibility to handicapped. • To incorporate the JSC Math Description Engine, which generates descriptive text, visual graphics, and/or sonification of mathematical graphs.

28. Review Process (cont.) Evaluation: Positive evaluations will be collected from at least 25% of the users indicating that the learning objectives were met. • Product to be evaluated continually via NEEIS/EDCATS and email feedback and appropriately adjusted. • Product is tied to Beginner’s Guide to Aeronautics, GRC’s most viewed Website, receiving an average of 1.8 million hits per month. • Student learning will be assessed via a comparison of pre- and post-test results. • Students’ work will be evaluated through a comparison of computer simulation results and actual field results.

29. Review Process (cont.) Partnerships/Sustainability: Product will be introduced to NASA centers, NASA Explorer Schools, and educators at two annual conferences/seminars after beta testing and revisions. Product is replicable for use in a majority of all geographic and economic locations via the Web and CD. • External partners are Science Olympiad coaches and COSI Toledo. • External partnerships to be developed in Phase 2 are For3D (stereographic displays to online and videoconference users) and Fakespace (immersive visualization through lower end, cost effective equipment). • Internal partnerships include the Ames LT Project Office; GRC Information Systems Division; and GRC Research and Technology, Engineering and Technical Services, and Space Directorates. • Internal partnerships to be developed in Phase 2 are JSC LT Project, GRC GRUVE Lab, National Microgravity Center for Research, Glenn NES schools, SEMMA sites, EA Earth Crews, and LaRC RAVE facility.

30. Review Process (cont.) Total Score 92 of a possible 96 points

31. Reviewer’s Feedback Kids need to know about problem solving—researching a problem, proposing an answer, testing the answer, and analyzing the data produced by the test to figure out if they have the answer or not. When students have the tools, including math, science, and history, then they can attack a problem. That’s what engineers do! Tom Benson, NASA Aeronautical Engineer

32. Reviewer’s Feedback “From my vantage point, these types of interactive tools are definitely the key to improving education.” I am excited about the final product and the continued development of WaterRocketSim. Scott Carson, Science Olympiad Coach

33. Unique Bottle Rocket Simulator • Students can view the rocket during its design. • 3D graphics provide a view of the rocket from all angles. • The launch screen shows the final design as it ascends—not just a graph of the rocket’s trajectory. • The user interface was developed to appeal to middle grades students rather than to working engineers.

34. Now, on with the show!