Empowering Students to Teach Flight Dynamics and Flight Simulation Enhanced Learning through Applied Modeling
Muhammad Omar Memon, Dathan S. Erdahl, Saad Qureshi · 2018
Students saturated with theoretical classes are prone to disengagement from the instructor and course material.To increase student engagement and provide an enriched learning environment that combines practical experiences with theoretical knowledge, an alternative approach to a flipped classroom was explored.With a senior and graduate mix of 28 students, roles in the Flight Vehicle Performance (FVP) course were partially flipped, as students were asked to take ownership of their learning through two main efforts.First, integration of the Merlin Flight Simulator early in the course built off of previous use to provide a practical exposure to the course material, even before it was presented in class.Second, the students were required to prepare lectures that cumulatively covered around 25% of the core course material.These methods greatly enlarged the learning platform of the class.Assessment of the lecture assignments was uniquely based on active participation by the students, including the learning process, delivery of the assigned content, and students' ability to keep the audience engaged.Class performance through projects and homework assignments revealed that students enhanced their knowledge of aircraft stability and control through flight simulator experience, iterative homework assignments, and by preparing and presenting assigned lectures.Reflections from the students showed that they greatly benefitted from the intuitive theoretical learning through the use of flight simulator.