::: Neoteric makes learning fun at Sarah Scott Middle School
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.
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.
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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.”
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.
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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.
The day was a huge success. Not only did the students discover that studying can be fun, there seems to be no doubt that their experience is likely to improve their ISTEP scores.
We at Neoteric encourage teachers and school administrations worldwide to take advantage of the interest hovercraft can awaken in your students and how easily they can interest students in math, physics and other areas of learning. Studying is a recreational activity when it involves hovercraft!
See how learning can soar to new heights: Join DiscoverHover …
See the full photo album of the Sarah Scott hovercraft program …
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