ADTO # 82 - October 15, 1999

PART 1: Upcoming Chats!
PART 2: A Lesson Plan for using NASA Quest from Carla Sproull
PART 3: The Test is Finished!

UPCOMING CHATS

QuestChats require pre-registration. Unless otherwise noted, registration
is at:  http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats/#chatting

Join us for a special series of chats focusing on the HSCT!

Tuesday, October 26, 1999, 10:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time:
Charles Stangeland, intern machinist

Charles Stangeland is an intern in the machine shop. He is
currently working with his mentors to prepare for the
High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) wind tunnel test. They are
making parts that the tunnel mechanics, facility,
or model may need for the test.

Read Charles Stangeland's profile and prior to joining this chat.
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/stangeland.html

And a heads up we'll be chatting with Grant Palmer and Orville and Wilbur
Wright in November!

Finally I am planning to Webcast the test of the Right Flyers in the Air
Force Academy Wind Tunnel during the week of November 8,1999. We will
have a chat room too. Right now I am planning the event for Tuesday the
9th at 1O AM but if I get emails asking for a later time I will delay the
broadcast. Send email to slee@quest.arc.nasa.gov and vote for Tuesday,
November 9 at 10 PST or 12PM PST or Friday, 12th at 2 PST.
This is your chance to have input on the timing of a chat!;o)

LESSON PLAN FOR USING NASA QUEST

By Carla Sproull

PRIDE (Positive Real-world Interactions Develop Esteem):
A One Semester Plan for Integrating the Disciplines and Technology with
Career Education

In order to facilitate the transition of our special needs students into
the world of work, we have established project PRIDE that provides a
myriad of opportunities for career exploration. This past year we utilized
NASA Quest to broaden the range of careers explored by our students. The
students were apprehensive at first, fearing the content would be too
sophisticated for them. However, as they researched and learned
about the workers, using field journals, team biographies, and NASA Quest
chats, they became more at ease and enjoyed as well as learned from the
NASA site.

Project PRIDE was implemented in conjunction with our participation in the
Wright Flyer Online project sponsored by NASA as an interactive Internet
project (component of Aerospace Design Team Online) with classes across
the nation. For the design project, students worked as a team to design
and test a glider. To integrate career study and to incorporate the chat,
journal and biography sections of NASA Quest, students researched and then
applied for the various job positions necessary for designing,
constructing, and testing gliders.

Staff prepared for the project by browsing through the biographies at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ and making a list of applicable job titles for
the students to select from. Students then were to select a job title that
sounded interesting to them. After making the selection, students read
biographies of people engaged in that job at NASA. They wrote a job
description based on what they learned in the bio.

These job descriptions became postings in the special classifieds
published for the project. Students read the classifieds and decided what
aspect of the designing and testing they wanted to be involved with.
Students then composed a cover letter to apply for the job. The letter had
to clearly identify the job they wanted and list personal traits and
talents that made them a good choice for the position. Students used
traits such as persistence, patience, creativity and artistic talent in
their cover letters.

Once students were assigned jobs, they were responsible for reading the
online journals found at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/team/fjournals. They used these
journals as a model for developing their own journal chronicling their
experiences in their job's role for the design project.

As part of the culminating experience, students gave an oral presentation
comparing and contrasting their experiences in the position for the
project with their real life counterparts at NASA. Following these
presentations, the class made a list of questions they would like to ask
the NASA workers. Initially all the questions were recorded. Then students
used a round robin cooperative learning strategy to assess the list of
questions and select one question (determined to be best by the group) for
each worker. We had planned to ask each of the questions during scheduled
chats with the worker, but that only worked for a few of the questions. A
miscommunication between staff team members caused a group to miss a chat
comparing and contrasting their experiences in the position
for the project with their real life counterparts at NASA.

Following these presentations, the class made a list of questions they
would like to ask the NASA workers. Initially all the questions were
recorded. Then student used a round robin cooperative learning strategy to
assess the list of questions and select one question (determined to be
best by the group) for each worker. We had planned to ask each of the
questions during scheduled chats with the worker, but that only worked for
a few of the questions. A miscommunication between staff team members
caused a group to miss a chat opportunity. The students decided to check
through the archives of past chats to see if they could locate any
answers. All but one answer was located in this way. For the final answer,
the student e-mailed the worker.

When the glider design project was entered in the school science fair, the
students chose to display their field journal as well as their summaries
of the NASA worker's journals, highlighting similarities and differences
between the two for all who came to learn about their project. The
journals helped boost the students' confidence, strengthening their
science fair oral presentation. They won first place at the school fair
and will be entering the project in the regional science fair held this
fall.

THE TEST IS FINISHED!

By Mina Cappuccio

September 15, 1999

After the smoke and laser test we finished up our force and moment data
for the high mount canard. We completed those tests. Then we switched over
back to the mid mount canard to finish up some runs that we had left
unfinished before. That was the end of the test. We had some time
left over so we decided to do some additional trailing edge flap study
runs. We took all our optimum leading edge flaps and did some
more trailing edge flap optimization runs to see if we could find any
combination of flaps that was better than the one that was the best in
previous runs. It turned out that we could not fine a better combination
of flaps. We finished running Monday of this week at ten o'clock.

Meanwhile the technicians who had been working on the laser smoke screen
test had been meeting with the Facility Manager and convinced him that
they could produce better results with water vapor. They replaced
the smoke generator with a water vapor generator into which they put
water. They injected 7 gallons of water's worth of vapor into the tunnel.
They also moved some cameras around to help in tracking the
vortices. They moved the camera up to the top window so that it was
looking straight down on the model and it was on a pan and tilt unit so
that they could pan the camera and zoom in on the vortex.

We brought the tunnel up and it worked. It was much better than the smoke
screen. It didn't pick up all the vortices that we expected to see. It
picked up all the strong vortices and not the weak ones. What we saw was
the void and the outer rings of the vortices.

Since this technique was more successful we put the canard back on the
model and did some running and we made some interesting deductions. All we
could see were the strong vortices. We would pitch the model to different
angles of attack. Some times we could visualize the vortices and sometimes
it would disappear. This also happened when we moved the canard.

This didn't make sense. The vortices should have been visible at most
angles of attack. That was how we deduced that the water vapor was only
showing us the strong vortices. We took some pictures and finished
Monday. Then the mechanics and technicians began de-installing the model
and packing up the parts. They will be shipped back to NASA Langley
Research Center.

Now we have to finish re-computing data and then distributing it to the
researchers at Boeing and NASA Langley. Then I have to summarize the data
for the High Speed Research Program, which ends in September. This won't
be very difficult since I have good documentation for this test. I also
have to summarize my previous test, which was a high-speed test of the
High Speed Civil Transport in the Boeing supersonic wind tunnel in
Seattle. Even though I am feeling a bit of a let down from the end of the
test I have to keep going and get these reports done.

Today I got to go home and play with Misty and Tigger at lunchtime. That
was fun! They seem glad to see me more often.