AAiM Day

Every year since 2007, approximately 700 Grade 6 students participate in the annual Aerospace and Aviation in Manitoba (AAiM) Day. The day’s events are designed to introduce the young students and their teachers to the concepts they are learning in the Flight module in the grade six science curriculum at school as well as to the city’s thriving aerospace and aviation industries.

This mini symposium is designed to let students participate in hands-on activities that focus on four major aspects of the aerospace and aviation sectors: Repair/Overhaul, Manufacturing/Composites, Space and Flight.

The students tell us that experiencing activities through a hands-on approach makes the science much easier for them to understand.

The equally enthusiastic educators say that the whole event complements their teaching of Flight as part of the Grade 6 science curriculum and eagerly express their interest in having their classes attend year after year.

AAiM Day was an idea conceived by the Manitoba Aerospace who partner with other aerospace related companies and educational organizations to make the project happen.

AAiM Day partners include 150 volunteers from: StandardAero, RCAF-17 Wing, Tec Voc High School, Manitoba Aviation Council, Career Trek, Magellan Aerospace, Boeing Canada, Women in Science & Engineering (WISE), Manitoba Association of Rocketry, and Air Cadet League of Canada (MB).

AAiM Day

THROUGH HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES, STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT THE FOLLOWING AREAS OF THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY:

1. FLIGHT: Students will be challenged by experimenting with different designs of paper airplanes, which use the “Bernoulli Principle” along with other scientific principles.

2. WORK IN SPACE: Students are transported to the International Space Station where they are challenged to repair a small hole in the structure.

3. ROCKETRY: Students learn what local interest groups are doing, watch some interesting video footage of model rocket launches and experiment with straw rockets.

4. COMPOSITES: The oldest manmade building material, adobe, is a composite formula – combining two dissimilar components (mud and straw) to form building bricks.  Students will learn about the evolution of composites and how they are used to build aircraft. Students will also make a small composite panel.

5. AIRPLANE INSPECTION: Students get to try their hand at being an “Aircraft Inspector” to see if the plane is “ready” to take off with its precious cargo which could be you or me.

6. RCAF ACTIVITY: Students will be introduced to technology that the Canadian Air Force uses for Search and Rescue or other Canadian based operations.

Questions? Contact Heidi Abraham or call (204) 272-2957