Designing the Curriculum Once the STEAM Topic is Chosen

 I'm writing a series of blogs about how I design my STEAM curriculum. This is the second post in the series. In the first blog of this series, I shared how I decided on the curriculum topic. In this blog, I will share my initial steps toward designing the curriculum once the topic is chosen.

STEAM Curriculum Topic - Aeronautics

In the last post, I mentioned all the books I collected from my shelves once I decided on the unit. Most of them were about folding paper airplanes. I remember doing some origami with a group of third-grade students last year. A small handful of students were able to follow the directions. Most of the students were frustrated trying to understand the folds. I think - I need to develop a plan to support students who find that folding paper is difficult while allowing those who have experience folding paper to move forward. (I highlighted this thought because I will need to address it in another blog post.) Next, I think - What else can we do besides folding paper airplanes? This leads me to a search on the internet about aeronautics for kids.

Here's my reconstructed search on the internet for anything pertaining to aeronautics for kids. 

First, I searched for more books. I wanted to know if there were any books that might have more than just folding paper airplanes. I already have the book "Integrating Aerospace Science into the Curriculum: K-12 by Jerry Flack and Joan Ray" which has other activities besides folding paper airplanes. It's a good book, but I still want to know if there are others. I search "books on aeronautics for kids" and I'm directed to Amazon. There I find a lot of books on space, the universe, and planets.  On the list, I find a book called, "Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge by Federal Aviation Administration" it's $3.90 for the Kindle Edition so I buy it. I also find, "Airplane Flying Handbook by Federal Aviation Administration" it's $2.99 for the Kindle Edition so I buy it too. I purchased these books because they will give me the knowledge I want to understand more about this topic.

I ventured next to searching the internet for anything about aeronautics for kids. After searching for a bit I changed the search to aviation. That's when I found this gem, "Science of Flight by the Airbus Foundation." I was really excited to see this resource was in partnership with Autodesk, the producer of Tiinkercad. (I will share more about Tinkercad in a different blog post.) I scrolled down and also found a reference to Instructables, another invaluable resource for STEAM teachers especially those with MakerSpace tendencies. 

By this time my mind was spinning fast with the possibilities for developing this curriculum. I thought about hot air balloons which would require some teaching about air, air pressure, density, and more. I thought about kites, helicopters, drones, and wind tunnels. I thought about all the physics principles involved in flight. I also thought about hosting a paper airplane contest. I thought about Jeff, who was an aviation instructor and now works as an airplane mechanic at our local airport. When I reach this stage in developing a curriculum I'm ready to ruminate. So that's what I did.

In my next few blog posts, I will share my thoughts about some of the thoughts I listed above.

"Man must rise above the Earth - to the top of the atmosphere and beyond - for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives."

- Socrates

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