The First in Flight Challenge

North Carolina has long been known as a state of firsts –like the First Colony, the Wright Brothers’ first flight, and the nation’s first statewide science festival. For the coming year, we want to tap into that spirit of innate adventure and innovation and design a series of activities for public libraries and middle schools themed around the science of flight. These interdisciplinary activities would be used annually to get students excited about the North Carolina Science Festival, a two week celebration of science held each April.

The Kenan Fellow will have the opportunity to explore programmatic possibilities ranging from paper airplane challenges to collaborating with NC-based aerospace organizations. A major theme of the Festival is that science is a part of our everyday lives so we encourage our curriculum developers to seek out interested and unique ways to make connections that have real meaning to our audiences.

You will collaborate with staff from the N.C. Science Festival, UNC Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, and faculty from a variety of disciplines to create an innovative program that includes resources to help students and educators explore the fascinating dynamics of flight.

The resources you create will help library and media center-based educators effectively engage informal audiences to learn core scientific principles. Enable other teachers to implement the program at their school through the creation of a comprehensive teacher guide. Before helping to launch the program statewide, implement the suite of activities at your school and evaluate the program’s ability to produce students who are more informed and engaged.

Join the N.C. Science Festival as they strive to help students investigate one of the most fascinating fields of STEM.