Anything is possible with (digital) teamwork

Finally, after a year in lockdown, the Mobile Newton Room is ready to bring STEM education to Europe again.

Read more about this FIRST Scandinavia and Boeing Project

Last week, the containers arrived in Angers, France; where they were set up on the basketball courts at a local middle school, the Collège Renoir. Students will get the chance to experience the Newton Concept for the next several weeks. In France, the Fédération Léo Lagrange is the local partner for the operational and logistic side of the Newton activities.

Live from Bodø
Given the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Ingvill Berg, Margrethe Skjelbred and Axel Storli (at the top-photo) from the Newton administration is conducting all of the Newton Teacher and flight simulator training digital he first time, from Norway, instead of on-site.

From the FIRST Scandinavia offices in Bodø and Berlin, our team of educators, project managers, and flight simulator instructors are teaching everything there is to know about the Newton Concept and the equipment inside of the Mobile Newton Room, using a set-up of cameras and video call technology.

Several teachers and instructors are receiving an introduction to the Newton Concept and methodology, and learning all about how they can help visiting students succeed and have fun. The teachers were given a thorough overview of the Newton Module “Up in the Air with Numbers”, which has been translated into French in order to be taught in the Mobile Newton Room in France. The module, which uses mathematical concepts in an aviation context to convert units and calculate flight routes, will help the students learn STEM concepts in a fun and interactive way.

Local help
With local help from Jean-Michel Capron, a flight simulator expert from the association DécouvAIRte, the instructors are learning how to set up and fly the flight simulators - some for the very first time! - inside the Mobile Newton Room. Guillaume Dechazournes, from the Fédération Léo Lagrange, is the project manager on site, and is helping with translation and local coordination.

– Fantastic partners!
“Conducting the training online was a challenge for us, since in our experience, people learn much better through face-to-face interaction, and that’s actually a big tenet of the Newton Concept. It’s been a lot of work to get everything into a virtual format”, said Maggie Skjelbred, who is organizing the training from Bodø. “However, we are able to rely on our fantastic partners in Angers to ensure that the local staff is getting the right knowledge despite the COVID-19 restrictions. I am very happy with the training so far, and I can’t wait for the first student visits!”.

In the Mobile Newton Room in France teachers and instructors are receiving an introduction from the Newton team in Bodø.

All together, on one screen.

Axel Storli teaches the instructors how to set up and fly the flight simulators.