St. Tammany News

Teachers experiment with weightlessness

A top-gun team of topsy-turvy St. Tammany Parish teachers took free-falls into zero gravity Thursday to inspire their students to reach for the stars in science and math.

Catherine Dee of Clearview Junior High floats in "space." (Photo by Steve Boxall)

Six local teachers flew out of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on the G-Force One, a specially modified Boeing 727 plane that simulates zero gravity. They were among 57 science, math and engineering teachers from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama selected to participate in a hands-on weightless flight education program that was, from all accounts, out of this world.

During their flight, teachers in alien tentacle headbands or flying an American flag bounced and floated amidst floating M and Ms, marshmallows and water drops in a weightless dance of controlled chaos as they performed student-initiated scientific experiments filmed on video for classroom use.

Whether it was teacher toss or floating through a hoop, adults turned into giddy kids, thumbing their noses at gravity while testing Newtonian physics as part of the Northrop Grumman Foundation Weightless Flights of Discovery program for science, math and engineering educators. The foundation has paired up with the Zero Gravity Corp., to offer the workshops and what normally would be more than $3,000 per person flights.

"This is the funnest thing I have done in my life!" Heidi Rhea said after the flight. Rhea teaches fifth-grade science at Tchefuncte Middle School. "I screamed and laughed the whole time. My stomach hurts from laughing."

Before the flight, she had said, "I'm terrified of roller coasters."

Besides Rhea, other local math and science teachers included Jane Gallardo, Fontainebleau Junior High; Renee Rome Davis and Belinda Breaux, Madisonville Junior High; Catherine Dee, Clearwood Junior High; and Dawn Casselberry, Northshore High.

Gallardo, who teaches eighth-grade Earth science, said, "I love teaching kids about science. My eyes light up. This was the ultimate teacher workshop. It couldn't get any better."

St. Tammany Parish School Superintendent Gayle Sloan said she was excited when six of the district's teachers were selected to participate.

"These kinds of hands-on experiences offer teachers opportunities to present educational concepts to students in creative and interesting ways that makes learning approachable and relevant. The classrooms of these teachers certainly will be enriched by this experience," Sloan said.

An estimated 480 teachers from eight cities are slated to participate in the program, sharing their enthusiasm and knowledge with thousands of middle and high school students. The teachers were divided up to take either a two-hour morning or afternoon flight in the G-Force One whose zero-gravity aircraft flights maneuver to create temporary the low-gravity experiences of being on the Moon and Mars as well as zero-gravity. The aircraft performs a series of 15 parabolas or arcs between 24,000 and 32,000 feet so as to simulate weightlessness for 30-second intervals.

During these 30-second intervals, the teachers floated and performed their various scientific experiments. Because Louisiana ranks near the bottom in math and science, these educational flights were for the teachers an ultimate teaching tool to inspire their students to aspire to new heights and brave new frontiers.

"This kind of learning grabs kids' attention," said Davis, a sixth- and eighth-grade science teacher at Madisonville Junior High. "It's like a big adventure."