WSD students take flight: exploring aviation and aerospace at the Royal Aviation Museum

Over a hundred Grade 5 and 6 students from three schools, École Sacré-Coeur, École J.B. Mitchell and Shaughnessy Park, are participating in a week-long internship organized in partnership with the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.  

"The students are receiving hands-on learning experience in aviation through lessons and presentations in both English and French. They meet pilots, volunteers, mechanical engineers and aviation professionals who inspire them to think about their future careers,” said Antonio Geronimo, the Aviation Program Coordinator.  

“This early exposure to career education, starting as early as Grade 5 or 6, is valuable. Students of Sacre-Coeur School plan to integrate all their learning for the Red River Heritage fair through creating videos and presentations.”   

For most students, this was their first trip to the Royal Aviation Museum, and they were amazed to see planes of all sizes and shapes. 

“Away from the classrooms, the aviation museum provided a great environment for students to learn about planes and discover Manitoban and Canadian history. They looked into future careers in aviation, visited the archives, participated in interesting STEAM activities and met a pilot, Kim Ballantyne. Their overall exposure was substantial,” said Breanne Thomson, Grade 6 teacher at École J. B. Mitchell School.

“At the end of each day, students reflected on their learning in a 3-2-1 format: three things they did, two things they learned and answered one question they learned together. They will also prepare displays with photos and projects for the parent-teacher-student tri-conference in March.” 

Sophia Veroukis, a Grade 6 student, shared her experience, “I enjoyed exploring different planes with my friends and listening to the volunteers. All the airplane facts, personal stories and the scavenger hunt were really fun for me.”

Sophia will always remember this interesting fact: “The first Air Canada flight passengers were scared of flying, so they made it look like a train with curtains and gave first-class service to everyone with good food and premium service.”

“Our one-week school program is curriculum-based and STEM-focused. The ‘Toys in Space’ lesson explores different types of toys sent into space to check if they work in microgravity. We taught the students the science of flight and the four forces of flight; students had a chance to sit in one of our little planes and see how moving the tail and the wings made the plane move,” said Brianne Vielfaure, STEM education administrator at Royal Aviation Museum. 

“Our STEM activities help students develop engineering and design processes in a fun way,” added Vielfaure.