On the Horizon: If you build it, they will become it

Every year the Oklahoma Aerospace Alliance puts on a summit to showcase aerospace in Oklahoma. As part of that summit, they have an educator’s day to bring together local educators, industry, and government to create the aerospace workforce of tomorrow. They want to make Oklahoma the global aerospace destination of the world. This year they did things a little differently and I believe it just might work.

They brought the teachers in and gave them hands-on instruction on how to teach students and peak their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It was definitely a fun-filled day. While there, I saw teachers laughing, crying out in amazement, discussing new ways of teaching, and really enjoying the learning process themselves. Many can’t wait to take what they learned back to their classrooms to see just how much their students will enjoy learning this way too.

I wished I could have had this type of instruction when I was growing up. Who knows, I might have gone into engineering or maybe science (math was definitely out because I simply don’t do very well other than basic math). Technology is as close as I come currently to anything in the STEM fields but I might have given other areas a harder look if I’d know just how much fun they could be.

In this week’s video blog, see how local teachers are spending their Summer break in the hopes of bringing new ways of teaching to the classroom and maybe getting students interested in aerospace once again.

Alisa Hines