Dr. Charles Marston, Professor Emeritus of Villanova University came in today to talk to my students about how airplanes fly. We had worked with Dr. Marston earlier in the school year when we were studying the Wright Brothers and were looking forward to a second visit with him. After a slide presentation, which included much explanation along with questions and comments from the students, the real fun began. Dr. Marston showed the class two paper airplanes, and gave a brief discussion about balance, wing formation and center of gravity. Then the children began to work.











Some of my students had experience making paper airplanes while others had never made one, and were a bit hesitant about trying. With help and encouragement all around, we had some wonderful models! After ‘flying’ them in the classroom with great enthusiasm and excitement, each child had a chance to individually share and fly his or her paper airplane. The cheers, exclamations and applause from others had us all beaming. As we were watching, Dr. Marston commented that this was a much bigger hit than he had expected!












Educators are always encouraged to include those experts outside the immediate school community when teaching. Local universities, industry and organizations often have great outreach programs for us. By the way, Dr. Marston is active in the Philadelphia area AIAA chapter.