From
remote controlled hovercraft, to comedian Gallagher’s hovering billiard balls,
to actual flights in a Neoteric hovercraft, the students at Sarah Scott Middle
School in Terre Haute, IN have discovered that studying can be the most fun
thing you can do!
Mark
Kirby, a Sarah Scott technology instructor, wanted to find a way to better
prepare his students for their ISTEP tests coming up later this month. So he
and his fellow teachers capitalized on being located in the same city as
Neoteric Hovercraft: they created a special Saturday program using the
hovercraft as a vehicle to illustrate to their students that the math and
language arts skills tested on ISTEP do have a practical application.
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Using
a small remote controlled hovercraft, Neoteric President Chris Fitzgerald explains
hovercraft skirts
and their importance in trapping the cushion air under the hovercraft - how the skirt acts as a seal to hold air under the craft. |
Kirby explains the program, “We invited any middle school student
interested in participating and invited at least one of their parents to attend
as well. As it turned out we had a few siblings attend that weren't quite
middle school age, making it a true family activity. So the ages ranged
from 3rd graders to 8th graders (ages 8 - 14).”
“For this activity the hovercraft was used as the focal point to
springboard discussions in math and language arts and practice work,” he
continues, “The staff divided the tasks of organizing this activity among
several teachers - some organized the food, others planned the math and
language arts practice work, and others organized the "building a
hovercraft from a CD" activity.”
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The
students experience one of 15 “hovering billiard balls” Neoteric manufactured
for the U.S. comedian Gallagher – a small hovercraft powered by a leaf blower
and equipped with jupe skirts. Gallagher’s were built with a billiard ball top,
not attached on this model.
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And
then the students moved on to the real thing! They were thrilled with their
first ever ride in a hovercraft
around the Sarah Scott Middle School parking lot.
around the Sarah Scott Middle School parking lot.
Title 1 funded this special hovercraft
program at Sarah Scott Middle School. As the largest federally funded education
program in the United States, Title 1 supports students and staff in high
poverty areas with additional staff and funding to meet the needs of struggling
learners.
We at
Neoteric encourage teachers and school administrations worldwide to take
advantage of the interest hovercraft can awaken in your students and how they can be used to teach math, physics and other areas of learning.
Studying is a recreational activity when it involves hovercraft!
One great
way to see how learning can soar to new heights is to join the Neoteric-founded
DiscoverHover International School Hovercraft Program …
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