25-10-2012, 12:19 PM
Students Soaring High with Software Spinoff
ABSTRACT
An educational software product designed by the Educational Technology Team at Ames Research Center is bringing
actual aeronautical work performed by NASA engineers to the public in an interactive format for the very first time, in order
to introduce future generations of engineers to the fundamentals of flight. The ‘Exploring Aeronautics’ multimedia CD-ROM
was created for use by teachers of students in grades 5 through 8. The software offers an introduction to aeronautics and covers
the fundamentals of flight, including how airplanes take off, fly, and land. It contains a historical timeline and a glossary of
aeronautical terms, examines different types of aircraft, and familiarizes its audience with the tools used by researchers to test
aircraft designs, like wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics. ‘Exploring Aeronautics’ was done in cartoon animation
to make it appealing to kids,’ notes Andrew Doser, an Ames graphic artist who helped to produce the CD-ROM, along with
a team of multimedia programmers, artists, and educators, in conjunction with numerous Ames scientists. In addition to lively
animation, the software features QuickTime movies and highly intuitive tools to promote usage of NASA s scientific methods
in the world of aeronautics.