Teacher Programs

In addition to the training for teachers provided within the student programs, the Foundation offers professional development for educators. The Foundation is an approved provider of professional development from the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 2011 it hosted an “Innovations for Inquiry” workshop for fourth through ninth grade teachers, with a NASA Aerospace Education Services Project instructor as one of the presenters. In 2012 the Foundation provided “Just in Time” professional development training in using various teaching methods. The participants were math, science, language arts, art, robotics, and career education teachers. They learned how to apply instructional techniques from each other’s fields in their own classrooms.

In January 2015 the Foundation started the new Teacher Advisory Board (TAB). Eligible TAB members are educators and youth leaders who have participated in one or more of the Foundation’s programs within the last two years. They are invited to provide feedback and ideas for continuing to improve our professional development for teachers and our education programs.

Since 2007 the Future of Flight’s Aviation Center has been a field trip stop for a Paine Field sponsored multiday Science of Flight for Teachersworkshop. The program introduces teachers to the scientific principles of flight, provides instructional strategies for presenting these principles to their students (including experiments and demonstrations to take back to their classrooms), and informs them of many facets of aviation and the career opportunities available to their students.