There are so many resources for assisting parents in the education of their children available today that it’s hard to choose the best ones. Keep in mind that children are different and select them accordingly. Here is a list of books I bought and I use to play/teach my son.
I do not plan a specific time for these activities. Instead, I try as much as I can to address them on-the-go; Sometimes I am initiating such learning moments but generally, I wait for the best time to start a science experiment or to connect math with something we encounter in the daily life.
Observe your child’s mood and approach him naturally otherwise you risk to provoke an unwanted rejection. The main goal is to ignite his curiosity and to make him understand that all things are connected and, more important, the knowledge he is getting at school will help him dealing with the world around.
Science
Math
Links to Software
The following programs are not directly related with aviation. However,I have decided to link them here because they are highly educative and they fit in the concept of project based education and interdisciplinary learning.Also these educational games and simulators are a great tool for you,as a parent,to assist your child in the discovery of new field of knowledge and to approach them in a nonformal way .This can be an excellent complement to the standard academical curriculum followed in schools.
Immune Attack
This is not exactly a flight simulator but if you have seen the movie Fantastic Voyage(1966)you will understand why I have included a link to this free program.
To play the game, users control a microscopic robot and navigate through a first-person 3D body, completing a series of stepwise missions to detect a bacterial infection and activate the appropriate defensive immune cells. These stepwise missions follow the actual biological process that occurs during an infection and how immune cells are stimulated to kill the bacteria.Follow this link and you will see also a very explanatory video about this program.
MSWLogo
MSWLogo is a free application based on LOGO programming language and it’s a great environment for exploring mathematics, language, science, the computer, number systems, and so much more. While the threshold for Logo is exceptionally low — as young as two years old — the ceiling is limited only by your imagination.
I strongly recommend you to download the free book (pdf format) “The Great Logo Adventure” written by Jim Muller. The author has had a lifelong interest in translating high technology into understandable, practical, and enjoyable applications — especially for young people. He began working with Logo in 1979 while public relations manager for Texas Instruments Incorporated. The book is written in a very “kids friendly” format and it might spark your children interest for programming and math.
MSWLogo is based on the Turtle Geometry that was added to Logo by Seymour Papert in the late 1960s.Using a small turtle (actually a triangle on the screen) the students are introduced to different mathematical notions in a very intuitive and exciting way. Papert has been widely known for focusing on the impact of new technologies on learning in general and in schools as learning organizations in particular.Whilst working at MIT he used Jean Piaget work to create Logo as a tool to improve the way that children and solve the problems. For more information about Seymour Paper work I will recommend his book” Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas”.
Logo programming language was initially used by Lego Company in the development of their Lego Mindstorm robotic kit.
StarLogo TNG
StarLogo as a wonderful tool to create and understand simulations of complex systems.StarLogo is free and it is developed at Media Laboratory and Teacher Education Program, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with support from the National Science Foundation and the LEGO group.This is a great program with applications in Biology, Graphics, Math,Physics ,Social Systems,Astronomy and Art.You will find in their Home page links to different other projects made with this program.
MindRover
MindRover is 'the Intelligent Robot Simulation' or perhaps you can call it a 3D strategy/programming game. This is a new genre that encompasses the depth of play found in strategy games with a new concept in player control. You get to program the intelligence of robotic vehicles. You are a researcher on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. In your free time you re-program the rovers to race around the hallways, battle it out with mini lasers and rocket launchers, and find their way through mazes. Once you have chosen a challenge, equip your vehicle (hovercraft, wheeled or treaded) with various sensors, movement components, and weapons. Then program the behavior of your vehicle in a graphical interface where you wire the components together and set their properties. Then let it go in the arena and watch how it does! You can stop the competition and tweak your vehicle at any time until you really like what it does! The competitions take place in a 3D world in and around the space station.
Soda Constructor
Soda Constructor is a free physics and engineering simulator that runs in a web browser. Using Soda Constructor you can make structures and creatures by putting springs and masses together.
The springs are then connected to a muscle wave that makes the springs expand and contract rhythmically. With careful design of the springs you can make your structure move across the screen.
There is a Soda Constructor zoo, where users can share the creatures they have made.
To successfully build a structure, builders must understand the concepts of centre of gravity and cross-bracing. These concepts can be discovered by trial and error.
Students can experiment with existing creatures from the zoo or built in library and explore the effects of adjusting gravity, friction and spring strength.
In addition to the SodaZoo, there is a SodaRace competition, which consists of an online olympics competition.
Bamzooki
Bamzooki is a free program similar with Mindrover,is made by BBC and enables you to build ‘Zooks’.
Zooks are 3D creatures built from primitives, that move autonomously in line with the design decisions of the creator. Zooks are designed and created from the ground up, then can complete challenges or be pitted against each other in a range of competitions eg the strongest Zook, fastest Zook, highest jumper etc.
A class Zookolympics is a fun culmination for a Zooks unit. Besides being loads of fun to design and create Zooks, students will learn valuable ICT skills and physics concepts, and Zooks can provide a very strong stimulus for classroom writing activities.
You should start by downloading the Bamzooki program and the manual.
Experiment, try out different ideas, share your ideas with others and most of all have fun!
TreeMaker
TreeMaker is a free program for the design of origami bases made by Robert Lang, a laser physicist from Pleasanton, California, who has moved origami into the electronic age.You draw a stick figure of the base on the screen; each stick in the stick figure (the "tree") will be represented by a flap on the base. You can also place various constraints on the flaps, forcing them to be corner, edge, or middle flaps, and/or setting up various symmetry relationships (forcing pairs of flaps to be symmetric about a line of symmetry of the paper, for example). Once you have defined the tree, TreeMaker computes the full crease pattern for a base which, when folded, will have a projection (roughly speaking, its "shadow") equivalent to that specified by the defining tree. The crease pattern can be printed out, or copied and pasted into another graphics program for further processing.
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. I have discovered that origami can be a very useful tool in showing kids how math is connected with real life. You can start by folding paper planes and learn about symmetry, center of gravity, kinetic energy and forces of the wind on the airplane. If you want to go further, you can create complex shapes.
Check Robert Lang’s web page for some amazing projects and information about the applications of origami in life and technology.You will also find here some links to other sites where the mathematical aspects of origamy is explained in detail.
Video editing
Most of the science projects presented in this site have short videos.I have a lot of fun with my son during their production and I too the chance to introduce some basic notions about editing a movie.
Anime Studio Debut 6
This is an inexpensive and relatively easy to use program for creating animation about your experiments.It will let you also mix real life footage with your own drawings.
Links to Web Sites
NASA Education
The two main goals of NASA's education program are to "inspire and motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics" by supporting education in the Nation's schools and to "engage the public in shaping and sharing the experience of exploration and discovery" by supporting informal education and public outreach efforts.NASA EDUCATION is a great tool for teachers as well as a great motivator for children of all ages.You will also find here many links to other useful resources in teaching aviation to kids.
FutureLabs
"Transforming the way people learn through innovative technology and practice"
This is the credo of the FutureLab,an extraordinary non-profit organization based in Great Britain.You will find in their web site many projects and ideas regarding a new approach in children education.
WARNING! This site creates addiction! I just could not stop reading the information provided there and trying different programs form their PROJECTS page.Get a large cup of coffee and take your time to explore this amazing resource.I guarantee you won't regretted!
Helping Your Child Learn Math
This website includes activities for families with elementary school-aged children. These activities use materials found inside your home and also make learning experiences out of everyday routines, such as grocery shopping and cooking. The activities are designed for you to have fun with your child while reinforcing mathematical skills.
Helping Your Child Learn Math is for parents of children in kindergarten through fifth grade. It has been revised to include a variety of activities that will help children learn and apply mathematical concepts such as geometry, algebra, measurement, statistics, and probability in a useful and fun way. All of the activities relate math to everyday life and complement many of the math lessons that children are learning in school. These fun activities use materials that are easy to find. They can be done in the home, at the grocery store, while traveling, or just for the fun of it.
Youth Motivation
This is a link to a site I found while searching for Project Based Education and interdisciplinary Learning. The web site author’s achievements are amazing and inspiring. He is a living proof of the power of self education, discipline and dedication. His web site rich content is a good source of ideas that you can use in the non formal education of your child.
Bob Web started at the age of nineteen, during the Korean War, as a machinist in the Marine Corps. Later, he worked to the Panama Canal Zone where he learned five computer languages and became supervisor of the computer department.
Here is one excerpt from his My Story web page: “Unknowingly, I was learning the art of learning how-to-learn — self-education — a technique that would follow me the rest of my life, a technique that would bring me success and make my wildest dreams come true.”
R/C Airplane world
This is the best web site for beginners interested in radio controlled planes I have found.Written by a very knowledgeable person (see his biography) ,R/C-Airplane World will offer you a lot of information about this hobby as well as many links to other useful resources.If you have any questions about hoe to start in this hobby do not hesitate to use their forum.
Learning games for kids
This is an example of how a mother inspired her kids to learn through different games and activities.
Other useful aviation sites.
This is an excellent source of information about Homeschooling with a chapter dedicated to aviation.You will find here how to make paper airplanes, model planes, rubber band powered planes, and build homemade blimps as well as some other useful links.
Moore Homeschooling - Preparing Parents for Successful Children Practical homeschooling books and informative articles that cover every aspect of raising happy, healthy children. These books prepare both parent's and teacher's for successful children.
Sites for parents : this is a rich collection of links to sites dedicated to any parent who want to get involved in his children education.
Read more: http://www.aviation-for-kids.com/Links.html#ixzz0yW2rEUSH
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