Bring the thrill of flight to your classroom!
Our team of certified teachers uses humor and fun to bring science and aviation history to life. Programs cover topics such as flight dynamics, engineering principles, alternative fuels, and space travel, and include hands-on activities to reinforce the subject material.
Explore our program options below or download the program catalogue complete.
Take Flight!
Our Take Flight! programs are curriculum-based STEM-focused programs.
All programs include hands-on activities appropriate for the age group and touch on curriculum points for each grade level. We offer 12 STEM-based programs suitable for grades 2 through 12. We work with teachers to tailor or emphasize aspects of learning outcomes as needed.
The programs listed below are available from September through June.
Hoop Gliders (grades 1-4)
How does an aircraft fly without an engine? Is that even possible? As STEM-gineers, students will design, construct, and test a Hoop Glider to explore the concepts of gravity, force, and motion, while discovering how changes in the design of an aircraft can create changes in its flight. A Schweizer Glider, suspended from our museum’s ceiling as part of our Experience Flight exhibit, offers an up-close look at a glider aircraft responsible for decades of pilot training, meant to inspire the next generation of flyers.
Stopping and Going (grade 2)
Young engineers will explore the position and motion of objects, including how wheels and axles help objects move. Our museum’s Observation Lounge provides a big-picture look at arriving and departing aircraft, baggage carts, fuel trucks, and other vehicles that help airports operate every day. As a part of a design team, students will then build and test a model baggage cart to explore how motion is impacted by different shapes and surfaces. The accompanying museum tour provides insight into how different types of landing gear, such as skis for our Fairchild Super 71 bush plane, make aviation possible all over Western Canada.
Toys In Space (grade 4-6)
What if astronauts wanted to play soccer on the International Space Station? In this engaging lesson, students learn about the physics of popular toys on Earth that allow them to operate as intended. Then, by testing various toys and applying scientific concepts after observing their motion, these junior scientists will investigate and predict to answer the question: Will these toys work in microgravity? Our museum’s Black Brant rocket, viewed as part of our school tour, provides a Canadian connection for space exploration by highlighting the world’s most effective sounding rocket, manufactured in Manitoba.
Whether the Weather… (grade 5)
Young meteorologists will discover how significant weather measurement is for aviation, learn about the different types of turbulence that aircraft might experience and how pilots deal with them, and visit our museum’s Observation Lounge for an up-close look at our airport’s runways and weather instruments in action. In engineering teams, they will then build anemometers which they can use to measure wind speed. Innovations such as skis used by our Fairchild Super 71 bush plane are encountered on the accompanying tour to reinforce how important a role weather plays in aviation.
Science of Flight (grade 6)
Through exploration of our interactive Science of Flight exhibit, junior aviators will learn about the four forces of flight, Bernoulli’s Principle, and how various lighter- and heavier-than-air aircraft fly through the air. They will investigate how airflow affects flight with our museum’s Wind Tunnel, and will have the opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat of a Royal Canadian Air Force Beechcraft Musketeer training plane to see its controls in action for themselves.
Ship The Chip (Grades 6-9)
How are fragile objects transported around the world or even into space without being damaged? Students will work in teams as manufacturing engineers to build the smallest, lightest, and most cost-effective package possible in order to protect their cargo: a single fragile potato chip. The accompanying tour of our museum offers a comprehensive look at how flight improved transportation of mail, raw materials, and other cargo, as well as people, making sure to explore our Air Canada Vickers Viscount airliner, one of the largest aircraft in our museum!
Invisible Forces (Grades 6-10)
Can other planets help us explore outer space? Students will discover how scientists and astronauts use gravity in space exploration, learning about Newton’s Laws of Motion and the engineering process in order to test their own gravity assist devices in a challenging hands-on activity. The accompanying museum tour provides a thorough glimpse at the various forces all aircraft encounter in attempting to achieve flight, like the double wings of our Vickers Vedette boat plane replica, and the creative engineering that made it possible.
Orion Touchdown (Grades 6-12)
How do astronauts return safely from their missions in space? In teams, junior engineers will design, construct, and test a model Orion capsule to protect astronauts during the splashdown of NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions, viewing actual testing footage from NASA’s Langley Research Centre to see this engineering in action. An up-close glimpse of our Black Brant Sounding Rocket on the accompanying museum tour reinforces the importance of design for spacecraft required to travel to the most extreme of destinations.
Save The Suit (Grades 7-12)
How does a spacesuit protect an astronaut in space? Students will learn about the features of spacesuits that protect astronauts from damage on their space missions, both in and out of their spacecraft. Using scientific inquiry and the design process, students will work as engineering teams to design, construct and test a model spacesuit to protect astronaut Mark Whatney from micrometeorites. The accompanying museum tour provides up-close examples of all kinds of other protective gear from the history of flight in Western Canada, such as the ejection seat used by pilots of the CF-104 Starfighter jet. (Inspired by the 2015 film The Martian).
Green Fuel Rockets (Grades 8-12)
It’s not easy being green, but rocket scientists are working to make spaceflight more environmentally sustainable. Junior chemical engineers work in teams to choose solid and liquid components, such as vinegar and effervescent tablets, that they will then test in order to create a rocket propellant that maximizes thrust and minimizes environmental impact, with explosive results! The accompanying museum tour offers insight into how newer engines and fuels have contributed to the evolution of flight in Western Canada and beyond.
Rocketry – Fins and Distance (Grades 8-12)
Junior rocket scientists learn about the history and design of rockets, from the first fireworks to spacecraft that have taken humans to the edge of our atmosphere and beyond. Our Black Brant Sounding Rocket, standing on the main floor and nearly touching our museum’s ceiling, serves as design inspiration and provides a local connection to space exploration. Using the engineering process, students will design, build, and test their own straw rockets to discover how drag affects acceleration and distance in order to answer the question: what design will fly the farthest?
Take Flight! Booking Information
KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE 1:
Half-day program only: Two hours – includes museum tour a visit to the Galaxy Play Zone, and classroom activities.
Available timeslots: 10:00am – 12:00pm only.
GRADE 2 AND UP:
Half-day program: Two hours – includes museum tour and classroom activities.
Available timeslots: 10 am – 12pm, 12 – 2pm or 1 – 3pm (Times may be adjusted by request)
Lunchroom is available before or after program, by arrangement only.
OR
Full-day program: Four hours – includes museum tour, two programs, includes lunchroom and assorted activities.
Available timeslots: 10 am – 2 pm
COST
$12.00/student for one program
$18.00/student for a full day with two programs
No charge for staff on a 1/8 ratio Student rate for adults over that ratio.
Groups with fewer than 20 students are welcome.
Minimum charge of $240 for half-day and $360 for full-day bookings.
Prices are in effect September 3, 2024 to June 27, 2025.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations made within two weeks of the programming date will be subject to a charge of 50% of the total fee.
Cancellations made within one week of the programming date will be subject to 75% of the total fee.
Please note that our Outreach Programming is temporarily on hold.
HOW TO BOOK
Download the booking form below and return it to programs@royalaviationmuseum.com
Once your completed booking form is received, our STEM Education Administrator will contact you with a confirmation and invoice.
Curriculum-Connected Special Interest Programs
These programs are a great add-on to one of our STEM programs or as a fun, standalone activity.
Contact us for details.
Airports Away (KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 1)
An exciting combination of fun dramatic role play and an up-close view of our airport runways in action from our museum’s Observation Lounge enables junior aviators to discover what happens at airports around the world every day. Students will learn about different roles involved in air travel, important safety features of airports, and how airplanes navigate their way safely through the skies. Our accompanying museum tour will take them through our Air Canada Vickers Viscount airliner to see how air travel has changed and stayed the same over time.
Designiacs (KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 12)
After exploring the different types of aircraft featured in our museum collection on the accompanying tour, junior engineers will use their new knowledge to creatively collaborate in order to design, build, and demonstrate aircraft made out of recyclable materials. By learning about how the features of different aircraft change to serve different purposes, students will decide whether their team’s aircraft needs large wings like our Air Canada Vickers Viscount airliner, a powerful jet engine like our CF-104 Starfighter, alternate landing gear such as pontoons or skis like our Fairchild Super 71 bush plane, or maybe even tilting rotors like our Canadair CL-84 Dynavert!
Time Flies (GRADES 11-12)
By exploring the fascinating stories featured in our museum’s multimedia displays, junior historians will learn about the people, places, and planes that changed Western Canadian history, and discover how these stories still impact Canada and the world today. The accompanying tour will highlight the creative and daring accomplishments of engineers like Elsie McGill and pilots like Wilfred “Wop” May, and students will view unique aircraft like our museum’s Froebe Helicopter, the first helicopter built in Canada, constructed in 1930s Manitoba by three brothers using spare tractor parts.
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