|
We send best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season for all!
As the year comes to a close, it's time to prepare to celebrate all the great work our members are doing in the Aerospace Education mission. So that CAP can recognize the excellent service and the impact that service is making, we need your help. The first step of National Award deadlines is approaching in January. You will find in this newsletter important information on awards for AEOs, cadets and teachers. Please nominate individuals or organizations so that they can be recognized for their excellence.
Also another year-end deadline is nearing for the Aerospace Education Excellence Program 2021-2022 report, due by Dec. 31. Applications for AFA's CAP grants for units are also due on Dec. 31. Find information on both below.
Our member story this month highlights a member from Alabama Wing. If you know of other outstanding member stories, we hope you will reach out to us at ae@capnhq.gov. Your story could be the next one told!
Happy Holidays!
| |
THIS MONTH: Program updates - AE Safety Check - Member Story - Curriculum - Awards Update - News and Events - Important things to know | |
|
PROGRAM UPDATES
ACE Plus: A classroom adopt program
| |
|
CAP’s ACE Plus Adopt program is designed for CAP squadrons to collaborate with local 5th - through 8th-grade ACE teachers to support the teachers and stimulate student interest in aerospace-related STEM subjects/careers and awareness of CAP and its youth programs. Lessons for presentation are prepared for squadrons, and options to do even more with the classes are offered.
To learn more about the program, click on the program link below. Teachers who wish to be “adopted” should complete the Request to Collaborate Form in the link below.
| |
Educator members, take flight with CAP! | |
|
Each educator member of CAP can take a Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) flight each year! It is easy to connect with each state’s Director of AE (list found HERE) to request a CAP flight over the teacher’s school and community.
Teachers are using these flights to delight their students, who can view this flight via a school fly-over, a live-stream event or a video of the experience after the flight. Teachers can connect STEM concepts they are teaching with the applications of aeronautic principles of flight and aviation technology experienced during the pre-flight orientation and the in-flight opportunity for the teacher to actually fly the plane! To expand the program, pilots can then be invited to discuss aviation STEM and career opportunities with the students in person or via a virtual meeting. Plan to schedule a flight with a coworker or principal NOW and take YOUR teaching experiences “out of the classroom and into the sky!”
| |
CAP's AE STEM Kit Program -- featured kit | |
|
FEATURED STEM KIT - SNAPTRICITY: With the Snap Circuits Snaptricity STEM Kit, cadets and students use hands-on activities to explore how electricity and magnetism are used in daily items. Using the kit, learners can demonstrate the workings of magnetic fields, electricity, parallel circuits, and switches. Snaptricity includes a motor, lamps, switches, fan compass, and electrodes in conjunction with over 40 parts. The kit can be used to build over 75 different projects that are covered in an enclosed curriculum guide.This kit is recommended for ages 10 and older.
| |
Aerospace Education Excellence (AEX) Program | |
|
AEX Award registration for squadrons and AEMs: If your squadron has not submitted its 2021-22 AEX Report, you have until Dec. 31. Activities must have taken place Oct. 1, 2021 - Sept. 30, 2022.
Make sure your squadron or classroom applies for the 2022-2023 AEX Award program in eServices. AEX program activities should take place from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 each year. Activities and resources are available in eServices, AE Downloads and Resources, and on the AE website, Lessons and Activity Videos and Aerospace/STEM Resources.
To learn more about the AEX Program, click the link below.
| |
AFA's CAP Unit Grant applications due by Dec. 31 | |
Funding has been restored for CAP Unit Grants by the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA); so YOUR squadron AEO can apply for a $250 grant to support an upcoming aerospace/STEM project or program! Find all information on the Unit Grant page link below, and submit your squadron’s application using the form on that page. | |
CAP National Aerospace Education awards | |
CAP seeks to reward its members with national-level awards each year. But, those awards have to originate from a Squadron or Group level (if for AEOs or cadets) and at the Wing level (if for educators). All awards are due to the Wing DAE (see list) by January 15 each year for consideration at the Wing level. Wing winners will be sent to the Region by February 15 to be considered at that level. By March 15, all Region award winners should be sent to CAP NHQ/AE at ae@capnhq.gov. To find out about each award, click below. | |
CAP National Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year | |
ATTENTION AEMs: CAP is proud to honor an outstanding CAP educator member with the National AE Teacher of the Year award. To nominate yourself or someone else, please complete the nomination form here. Submit the completed nomination package to ae@capnhq.gov not later than January 15! All nomination information is found on the CAP Teacher Awards page at the link below. | |
|
Air & Space Forces Association
award for CAP squadron cadets
| |
ATTENTION AEOs: This is a reminder for squadron commanders to submit an award request for the annual AFA’s CAP Outstanding Squadron Cadet award until January 15. Simply complete the request form on the webpage and submit to afa@capnhq.gov, and an award package will be mailed to you. For more information, click the link below. | |
(Welcome to AE Safety Check! These safety nuggets are things to think about as you lead or participate in an Aerospace Education activity. The writer of this monthly feature is Lt. Col. Karen Cooper, who works in safety and risk management on the AE National Headquarters Staff and is also the Northeast Region DCS/Aerospace Education.)
| |
|
SAFETY GOGGLES HELP PROTECT EYES
Several of our AE activities require the use of goggles, and there is always an option to use them, even if they are not required (the activity leader decides it would be a good thing to do, or you may feel more comfortable wearing them). Occasionally, you will hear the question “Do I need to wear goggles if I am already wearing glasses?” The answer is yes -- Even if you wear eyeglasses, you'll still need to wear safety goggles as personal protective equipment. Unless prescription glasses have been specially designed to also be safety glasses, they cannot be used as protective eye gear. You can always wear goggles over your glasses.
| |
If you have a safety topic you would like to be included in this space, please email kcooper@ner.cap.gov. | |
|
Air University Innovation Accelerator grant helps
elementary school immerse students in STEM
| |
|
Recently, thanks to a generous grant to CAP from Maxwell Air Force Base's Air University Innovation Accelerator, Civil Air Patrol/Aerospace Education (CAP/AE), was able to provide classroom sets of Bee-Bot, Code & Go Mouse, and Let's Go Code STEM Kits, along with printed curricula and Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE) materials as a beta test for a possible new program. In last month's National STEM Day observation, Coosada Elementary took the opportunity to invite their stakeholders to observe all the amazing projects their teachers and students are doing with STEM and the Civil Air Patrol. Each teacher at Coosada Elementary was provided with a complimentary CAP/AE membership as an Aerospace Education Member (AEM). They also received professional development, and complete classroom sets of each of the three STEM Kits to use with their students. From robots and coding foundations to balloon rockets and finger rockets, nearly 1,000 students (and over 60 teachers) throughout the entire school were engaged, excited, and fully immersed in Civil Air Patrol's STEM resources for National STEM Day. Courtney Gagnon (pictured), the school's Library Media Specialist, is this month's featured "AEM Story" in this newsletter..
| |
|
CAP mourns the passing of Col. Joe Kittinger,
National High-Altitude Balloon Challenge Ambassador
| |
|
USAF retired Col. Joseph Kittinger flew west at age 94 on Dec. 9, 2022. His legacy -- in setting world aeronautical records to include high-altitude balloon jump records, being a test pilot and surviving being a Vietnam POW, and challenging CAP cadets to learn more about space science -- will live on. His work as a research scientist set the stage for the space program as he proved that a person could survive the effects of high altitudes when protected in special suits. He also laid the groundwork for safety drogue parachute use in high-altitude ejections and slowing of space vehicles which are still used today.
A Texas Wing CAP squadron was named after him: the SWR-TX-352, the Col Joseph Kittinger Phantom Senior Squadron. Most notably to CAP is Col. Kittinger’s offer to be the award benefactor of a $5,000 prize and Kittinger Cup for the first two years of the new national AE high-altitude balloon challenge for cadets. He was quite proud to have the 2021 national cadet team winners visit him in Orlando as seen in the photo, but he was too ill to meet the 2022 national winners. In addition to the cash prize and the Kittinger Cup, he provided each winning cadet for both years with his autographed book, “Come Up and Get Me.”
His work with the first national STEM challenge for cadets was recognized with the 2022 CAP Frank Brewer Aerospace Award for an Individual. Kittinger’s name will live on in future HAB Challenge programs with the continuation of the Kittinger Cup. Cadets feel that having learned about him due to the high-altitude balloon challenge has inspired them to seek to learn more, work better with a team, and always seek to find answers with integrity and grit.
| |
|
CURRICULUM SPOTLIGHT
Spinning "Sight" Sensations
| |
In this lesson, students will learn about the mission and technology of NASA's Gravity Probe B. They will be able to demonstrate how a gyroscope works through hands-on investigations. Students will take part in four exploration stations, including using a bicycle wheel (without the rest of the bike) to take a spin! Spinning "Sight" Sensations (Gyroscopic Technology and the NASA Gravity Probe B) is Activity Four in CAP's AEX II (2020) booklet. Or find that lesson plan here. (Image information: A concept of the Gravity Probe B spacecraft; a collage of images were edited to form the completed space vehicle. Credit: Katherine Stephenson, Stanford University and Lockheed Martin Corporation.) | |
|
AEM STORY
Alabama AEM uses CAP's STEM resources
in library lessons at her elementary school
| |
 | Meet Courtney Gagnon, Library Media Specialist at Coosada Elementary School in Millbrook, Alabama. She has been an educator since 2014 and became a media specialist two years ago. With a grant to CAP from Maxwell Air Force Base's Air University Innovation Accelerator, Coosada Elementary is participating as a beta test for a possible new program. Each teacher at Coosada Elementary was provided a complimentary CAP/AE membership and other CAP products. "Coosada Elementary School has had the unique and amazing opportunity to partner with Civil Air Patrol, who provides robots, curriculum and access to other STEM resources to benefit our students," Gagnon says. Since she was a child, she knew she wanted to become a teacher, but the passion to be a librarian came as she was pursuing her master's degree. "I enjoy being a librarian so much because I have the opportunity to serve and teach students as well as provide support for the faculty. " she says. Her students have been engaged in their media lessons that use CAP's Bee-Bot STEM Kits. "My goal," she says, "is to create a caring and joyful environment that endorses a love of reading and learning for any and all students that I encounter in my career." Click the link below to read the full story. | |
|
"Our students are getting exposed to robots, coding, teamwork, and critical thinking skills more often than ever before due to our access to the materials and resources provided by CAP."
-- Courtney Gagnon, Alabama AEM
| |
Each month, this space features important highlights or answers to frequently asked questions. Here are four things you need to know as an AEM or AEO. | |
AEOs and AEMs: STEM Kits are not limited to one per year | |
AEOs and AEMs, there are no restrictions on the number of STEM Kits you can apply for within a fiscal or school year. Once you have received your STEM Kit, used it for a minimum of six hours and turned in a STEM Kit evaluation, you are eligible to apply for your next kit for your cadets or students. For full information on the program process, click the link below. Have questions? Email stem@capnhq.gov. | |
You can update your eServices profile information. Here's how: | |
Sign into eServices and click on your name in the top right hand corner. Update your email address, mailing address, contact numbers, etc. This ensures you receive timely and pertinent information from CAP. If you are a teacher, ensure your primary email address is your home and your secondary email address is your school so that your annual renewal email and any other important information will not end up as spam in your school email account.
| |
AEMs: Is it time to renew your membership? | |
All Aerospace Education Members (AEMs) are offered an annual FREE “in-kind renewal." The online renewal email is sent 60 days prior to the membership expiration date. A renewal banner appears at the top of the eServices sign-in page 90 days prior to expiring. (You can’t renew earlier than 90 days.) Find additional information at the link below. | |
AEOs: Reach out to AEMs whose memberships expire soon | |
|
AEOs, this is the perfect time to reach out to your AEMs whose memberships expire within 60 days or whose memberships have expired. For more guidance, see Recruiting and Retention of AEMs on the AEO Resources page link below.
Please note: CAP has several categories of membership, but each member can only be assigned one category of membership. Any adult uniformed member, who is an educator, may access all the resources available to an AEM.
| | | | |
