Teachers Take Flight to Inspire STEM Learning

Math and science teachers experience near weightless conditions during a Weightless Flights of Discovery program on Sept. 12. Twenty-six teachers and two preservice teachers were aboard the flight sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation.

—Charles Borst/Education Week

Weight of science unleashed

By Erik W. Robelen

Chantilly, Va.

When Carrie E. Marcum showed up for school one day last week wearing a navy-blue flight suit with an American flag emblazoned on her left sleeve, she didn’t exactly look the part of a teacher.

The outfit probably didn’t strike most of her 8th grade science students as terribly surprising, however. After all, the day before, their teacher from Spring Mills Middle School in Martinsburg, W.Va., was floating around the cabin of a specially modified Boeing 727 aircraft, getting a firsthand taste of the weightless experience astronauts go through when training for space missions.

“I always wanted to be an astronaut, so this is probably as close as I’m going to get,” Ms. Marcum said shortly before boarding the plane the previous day. “I am excited about sharing my experiences with my kids. ... They can’t wait for me to come back and show...