STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

A sixth grade student from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School blows air between two cans in an experiment about air pressure during a STEM day activity Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The experiment explored how high speed can cause low air pressure, which causes the cans to move together instead of away from each other. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Dunn, North Spark Defense Laboratory senior advisor, helps a sixth grade student from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School make a paper airplane during a STEM day activity Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The students made paper airplanes competing to see whose design had the best aerodynamics for flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

Sixth grade students from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School test their paper airplanes as part of a STEM day event Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The students made various types of paper airplanes to test which design had the best aerodynamics for flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

A 6th grade student from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School makes a paper airplane as part of a STEM day activity Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The students made paper airplanes competing to see whose design had the best aerodynamics for flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

A 6th grade student from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School blows air along the top of a thin piece of paper as part of a STEM day activity Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The activity explored how lift is created by airplane wings by making air travel faster over the top of the wings than the bottom and creating a pocket of low pressure that the plane can move up into. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Dunn, North Spark Defense Laboratory senior advisor, gives a presentation to sixth grade students from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School on Feb. 23, 2023, at North Spark Defense Laboratory on Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. His presentation was part of Twining’s STEM day activities, going over concepts like aerodynamics and principles or flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac)

STEM day: North Spark, students explore science of flight

Published March 2, 2023
By Senior Airman Roxanne Belovarac
319th Reconnaissance Wing

GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --

Thirty sixth grade students from Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School here visited the North Spark Defense Laboratory to explore different concepts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, often referred to as STEM.

This partnership was the first of its kind, allowing experts at North Spark to provide the students a day full of activities focusing on the principles of flight, pressure in dynamic systems, and aerodynamics.

“Our people at North Spark are passionate about integrating science and technology into the base and the wing,” said Lt. Col. Michael Dunn, the senior advisor for North Spark Defense Laboratory. “We were able to work with the students and teach them how STEM is a part of everyday life through the Air Force perspective.”

North Spark provided an ideal creative workspace for the day’s activities.

“Being able to work with North Spark for activities like this one is a big advantage for our students,” said Stephanie Olson, a sixth grade teacher at Nathan Twining Elementary and Middle School. “The students get to have fun and work hands-on with not only tools they probably wouldn’t have anywhere else, but they also get to learn from an expert in the field they are learning about.”

Dunn led the day, going over the different concepts with the students.

Learning the importance of engineering an aircraft, the students were shown how the shape of an airplane’s wings helps create lift through changing the air pressure around itself.

To understand the science of how air pressure works further, the students participated in an activity trying to push two cans away from each other by only blowing air between them. The fast air moving between the can creates a pocket of low pressure and pulls the cans toward each other rather than blowing them apart.

In order to comprehend how technology and mathematics work in aerodynamics, the students designed their own paper airplanes and threw them across the room to see whose could fly the farthest.

Each experiment was intended to highlight a scientific principle that affects flight.

“The kids really enjoyed their time at North Spark,” Olson said. “I would love to continue this partnership with next year’s class as well; working with North Spark and coming out to the lab only adds to the kids’ excitement to learn.”