A NASA project called Aero Design Team Online is using the Internet to help students learn about airplane design. Students and the general public can visit a website to find out how aeronautical engineers use airplane models, wind tunnels, supercomputers, simulators and other tools during the airplane design cycle. The project continues through May, although plans are underway to extend it into the summer. During Internet chats, youngsters use computers to converse with mentors by typing questions and reading responses and dialogue via the World Wide Web.
Teachers can visit the teachers' lounge on the website.
Various educational materials, including aeronautics lesson plans, are in the lounge. The plans list creative ways to bring the Aero Design Team Online project into the classroom. Educators can also have Internet chats with other teachers, describing classroom problems and solutions. NASA is providing the website because the agency has a mandate to help teachers and students understand NASA research in aeronautics. The Internet gives our engineers an effective tool to interact with audiences we normally would not reach.