San Diego Workshop and Flight Program Rundown

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in Northrop Grumman's Weightless Flights of Discovery Program!  As a participant, you will experience a once-in- a- lifetime opportunity to fly in microgravity aboard Zero-Gravity Corporation’s, G-Force One, and conduct demonstrations that you will be able to share with your students and fellow teachers.  In preparation for your flight, you will:

·  Complete a self-paced NSTA online professional development module on Force and Motion (you will also receive relevant journal articles, a guide and other online resources).

·  Attend a half-day Experiment Design workshop at the San Diego Air and Space Museum on August 5.   

·  Design/purchase several hand-held experiments to bring aboard the flight

You also will participate in a high profile press event at the Air and Space museum on August 11, the date of the flights. We also hope that you will share your experience and what you have learned with your students, fellow teachers and members of your community.

The San Diego portion of the Northrop Grumman Weightless Flights of Discovery will be presented to 40 teachers, divided into Group A and Group B. We are still finalizing flight manifests and program participants. We will send you an email to let you know if you will be part of Group A or Group B. You will be partnered with another teacher to work together on your experiments both in your Experiment Design workshop and on your flight. Below is a rundown of the schedule for both groups.

1. Online workshop: Work at your own pace: complete before August 5, 2006

2. Experiment Design Workshop: Saturday, August 5, 2006

San Diego Air and Space Museum Education Room

Group A: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm 

Group B: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm 

You will work on planning and developing hand-held experiments that you can demonstrate on the flight that can be photographed and video-taped for your classes and other presentations. You will also be given a “mission briefing” which will explain how ZERO-G’s G-Force One Aircraft achieves parabolic flight, and prepares you for your experience.

You will receive a flight bag and a flight suit. Each team of two teachers will share 1 bag to carry their experiments aboard the flight and 1 bag to store personal items that will not be brought aboard the plane. You may keep the bags and the flight suits as souvenirs.

All teachers will meet at the San Diego Air and Space Museum at the designated time for their groups (either A or B). Buses will provide transportation from the museum to the airport. Please wear your flightsuits!

The weightless flights will be a focal point for of a multi-organizational event called the West Coast Summit on American Competitiveness.  Education policy makers from industry, federal and state government will be in attendance, as will press to discuss how industry and government can work together to help the country increase the number of scientists and engineers in our workforce. Press will also be in attendance.

The Northrop Grumman Weightless Flights of Discovery have been scheduled on the same day as this event to call attention to the importance of teachers in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers, and to demonstrate the type of innovative programs that can be implemented to enrich and excite teachers as the ground force in inspiring students to consider scientific careers.