Le pièce de résistance ...

Aircraft flight control system^†

... or just a load of crock? We shall see. In any event, the micro-teach part of the PTLLS course looms even nearer.

We were given our groups and dates for the micro-teach sessions yesterday. There are two groups with eight students per group. Four students from each group present their topics in week 1 and four in week 2. I am in group 1 in session 2. My own presentation is at 17:40–18:10 on 28 March in room B002. Whilst I do not know what topics everyone is presenting I do know we will have the pleasure of a session on mask-making (Debbie), be taught how to sing (Vikki), make some pottery (Jenny) and bath a baby (Karen).

I previously comitted to teach on one of four topics according to voting on my blog here. Voting has been fast and furious with a total of six people bothering to vote. Four voted for the successful take-off and landing topic so that is what my session will be.

My experimental lessons on my unsuspecting friends have revealed some timing and skill issues in the practical part of my session. The sample take-off phase has been performed well by my guinea-pigs. The landing phase has had very mixed results. I had originally thought I could help anyone land from 800 feet. Indeed I can but not without significant help from me which tended to leave the subject dispirited. The issue I have is that my friends, none of whom have any flying experience, all had difficulty maintaining direction. I have run out of experimental subjects so I have to make a decision.

Short-final Cambridge runway 23.^‡
Same view from 800'

I have thus reduced the height to 400 feet from which a successful landing will then occur. Hopefully, the student will not drift too far from the correct glide-path in this shorter time. The problem may of course be my teaching and not the student. I may be over-emphasising the need for good speed control without emphasising enough the need for good directional control.

This is a contrived teaching session anyway. In real-life, a student will have experienced a lot more ground and air lessons before being taught to land. The effects of controls for example would be an early lesson where the student learns that the ailerons are used to turn. We use left and right joystick movement in our simulator. In Thom (1997) the effect of controls is lesson 4a whilst powered approach and landing is lesson 13a. What was a surprise to all my guinea-pigs was that, in order to turn, the stick is not held in the direction desired. Rather the stick is moved briefly in the required direction and then returned to the centre once a bank has been established. To stop the turn, the stick is moved in the opposite direction briefly then returned to the centre. This is all counterintuitive and very difficult to get across in a five minute lesson.

I therefore have my work cut out here.

^†Animation 2006 Piotr Jaworski
^‡Simulation. Note the airspeed (70 knots), altitude (430 feet above mean sea level; approx. 400 feet above ground level) and on glide-path and on glide-slope. The airport buildings are to our right

Further reading
Thom Trevor, 1997. Flying Training. The air pilots manual. Volume 1. Airlife.
Langewiesche Wolfgang, 1944. Stick and Rudder. An explanation of the art of flying. McGraw-Hill.

Outline lesson plans

Reflecting*

This is work-in-progress and will change over time. As part of the PTLLS course, we have to prepare and teach a 30 minute lesson to our peers. I have committed to teaching one of the following topics according to the voting, see top right of this page. I set out below my present thoughts on the aims and the outcomes of each of the topics.

Introducing Wikipedia editing

• Aim – To Introduce new editors to Wikipedia
• Outcomes
  Students will register on Wikipedia
  Introduction to students own talk page
  Edit own talk page
  A brief introduction to Wikipedia help, including the topic notice-boards and be given the opportunity to ask a question on a topic of their interest
  Some Wikipedia rules will be covered such as reliable sourcing. Some students may feel confident enough to edit an article but there will not be time in this lesson to see if such edits stick as others, usually more established Wikipedians, may remove such edits
• Multiple computers will be used so each student has a chance to edit at least their own talk page

Little Thetford local history

• Aim – to introduce students to local history research
• Outcomes
  More of a presentation than a lesson. Intend to cover brief local history of Little Thetford
  Use of research tools
  How to locate and summarise sources
  How to reject unattributable hearsay
• Powerpoint presentation and discussion

A blog and how to create one

• Aim – to introduce students to blogging
• Outcomes
  Understand what a blog is compared to a website
  Use blogger as one of many tools to create a blog
  Understand some of the pre-planning that may be useful
  Introduction to templates
  How to load an image
  Create a blog
• Multiple computers will be used so each student has a chance to create a blog

Landing on rwy 23 at Cambridge

Successful take-off and landing

• Aim – to provide the student with an introduction to flying
• Outcomes
  Using MS Flight simulator, each student will take-off from Cambridge then land
  Understand take-off and landing speeds using the airspeed indicator
  Importance of gentle control movement
  Importance of wings level
  Importance of visual cues: horizon (take-off) and runway aspect (landing)
  Instructor will control power, flaps and correct attitude as necessary
  
• Five minute introductory powerpoint presentation demonstrating the techniques
• Special notes: The lesson will be constrained as we will be using only one simulator. Each student will have a successful take-off and landing with some help from the instructor; no one will crash! For this reason, numbers will be limited to a maximum of four. Students not flying will be encouraged to take notes

* Photo © 2006 John McCullough

Which micro-teach topic should I plan for?

*Please vote in my poll

As part of the PTLLS course, we have to prepare a 30 minute lesson and deliver the lesson to a group of our class. I think most of us are worrying about this part of the course. I certainly am. Please help me decide what topic to teach by voting for your own favourite in the poll at the top of this blog. The topics I have considered so far are

• Introducing Wikipedia editing. A short introduction drawn from my own experience
• Little Thetford - local history. Two square miles of Cambridgeshire history from an Ice-Age through to the modern day
• A blog and how to create one. Feedback from the week 3 lesson after Lewis mentioned this blog in class suggests that other people may be interested in this
• Successful take-off and landing in a light aeroplane flying from Cambridge. Test your skills with a qualified pilot on this realistic simulation of the real thing
• Something else? Review my own background in this blog entry or just challenge me then make your suggestion by adding your comment below

This may sound arrogant, but I guarantee I will micro-teach the topic which receives the most votes.

* Photo © 2009 Theresa Thompson on Flickr