Flight is fascinating! Ever since the first time I flew in a plane to visit grandparents as a child, I have loved flying. Some years later, another grandfather had a plane and took my sister and I up often. The fun of flying and the amazing view led to marvelling about how flight itself was even possible. Unfortunately, I have never been able to take flying lessons, but I have hopes one of my children will. We’ve watched small and large planes from afar, but have yet to get any field trips worked out. We were pretty excited to learn about Doctor Aviation, a video-based online aviation course.
Because of the range of information, covering the history and science of flight, aircraft maintenance, air traffic control and airfield operations, younger learners would have to be really interested in aviation. My youngest son, age 7, is very interested, but would lose interest before the video lesson was complete. The videos average an hour in length but are broken into segments. It would be nice to have the option to play only a segment. We can keep track of the time we left off and pick back up, when that option is there. Not all of the videos have those controls in their embedded player. I know the course is for teens and adults, but more visual information (especially a basic diagram of a plane for the second lesson) would go a long way.
There are 15 lessons (called sessions) in the Doctor Aviation course. Covering the course in a semester would mean covering each lesson over the course of a week. In addition to the video, there are some resources to download (found on each lesson’s page). The Guided Notes are perfect to fill in the pertinent information without needing to write everything out. These pages will come in handy if you choose to take the tests. There are three tests during the course, with sample questions provided periodically to help prepare. If you choose to do this course for credit, these tests will be essential for earning that credit (a semester course would be 1/2 or 1 credit depending upon how your state figures high school credit). The tests are not immediately available but can be obtained by contacting the instructor, Mr. Daryl Smith, through the website.
Where this course really becomes more rigorous and rich are the additional activities and assignments you bring into it. One of the downloadable resources on each lesson page is To Learn More. There are recommended books and biographies, web links, video links and research topics. Of course, my crew would have enjoyed some sort of hands-on, model building component. We might still do that ourselves. You will need to do enough of these learning more topics to meet your state’s credit requirements. Our state does not spell out hours, etc. so we use mastery as our guide. That is not to say you should only use these additional resources if you are seeking credit for the course.
It truly is amazing to think about aircraft of all sizes lifting away from the earth and soaring in the sky. And all that is going on on the ground to keep it all happening. Anyone who wants to learn more about the history and hows of aviation, either alone or as a family, will enjoy this ecourse. To read all the reviews from the Homeschool Review Crew for Doctor Aviation click the image below.
