About Us

Model aviation’s power to excite the imagination and generate enthusiasm makes it an international activity for thousands of participants in hundreds of activities throughout the world. The Academy of Model Aeronautics is one of the world’s largest sport aviation organizations, representing 173,000 members who belong to over 2500 model aviation clubs. Established in 1936, the Academy works to accomplish its objectives through partnerships with valued associates, the modeling industry and its relationships with the international modeling community. The AMA is committed to model aviation as a competitive sport and recreational activity for newcomers, young and old.

The Academy is dedicated to model aviation as an educational tool, for the formal classroom as well as non-formal after school clubs, activities and camps. Through an active educational outreach program, the Academy supports classroom teachers and leaders of community groups who wish to infuse topics in math, science and technology with engaging aviation activities. The AMA seeks to introduce young men and women to the art and craft of aeromodeling as well as increasing their ability to make informed decisions as future citizens of a changing and increasingly complex world.

A little more than one hundred years ago, Wilbur and Orville Wright began their research using a kite as a model to test their theories of controlled flight, and model airfoils were used in a wind tunnel to confirm their calculations to create efficient wings. Models continue to be used today by aerospace engineers to prove concepts and launch dreams. The Academy continues this tradition as a pathway to the future of human achievement.

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Toward a Common Vision for the Future:
Lessons Learned from Twelve Years of Work of the
Academy of Model Aeronautics’ Education Committee

Background

When the Academy of Model Aeronautics (A.M.A.) was founded in 1936, the name was chosen by the organization to acknowledge that learning about model-building and flying was important part of a young person’s education. During the so-called “Golden Age of Aviation” when the nation’s youth closely followed the achievements of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, building small-scale aircraft for competition in local, regional and national flying events was viewed as a logical part of preparation for higher education in a variety of careers.

The Academy in the organization’s name is no less relevant today because a major focus of the sport and hobby of aero-modeling is life-long learning, whether a member is young or simply “young at heart.” Model aviation has changed much in the last half-century and the more than 2600 chartered A.M.A. clubs have become informal education “communities of learners,” helping members acquire new skills in electronics, mechanical engineering, and aerodynamics, to extend their reach to new horizons of achievement.

After undergoing reorganization in 1995, the A.M.A.’s Education Committee’s primary mission has been to help other aerospace education organizations to extend their reach as well. The world of education is divided into two groups: informal education, i.e., projects and programs that operate outside of the school day, and formal education, i.e., programs that are tailored to the needs of classroom teachers. From the outset, members of the Committee determined that their work would be focused on using the skills and experience unique to the A.M.A. and its members to assist others in informal and formal education projects to make the best use of models as an instructional tool.

The A.M.A. partnered with several organizations offering informal education programs (what some call non-formal education programs, also known as “extra-curricular activities”). During the past twelve years, the Education Committee has co-sponsored:

A Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit of historic model aircraft to science museums, with educational outreach to school groups provided by local A.M.A. clubs;
Two Boy Scout Aviation Field Days, where more than five hundred flying models were built wirh volunteers during each event;
The Science Olympiad, a national extra-curricular science enrichment competition. An A.M.A. Education Committee member also assisted the national Technology Student Association to improve its flight competition. To date, more than 150,000 students have competed in regional and national competitions for both groups over that past twelve years.

In addition, Committee members have worked with:

The Civil Air Patrol and the Experimental Aircraft Association to create more viable model aviation projects for their programs;
The National Conference on Aviation and Space Education and the National Parks and Recreation Association to present teacher workshops;
Ball State University to produce three interactive television shows, reaching out to more than 50,000 students and teachers.

In formal education, the A.M.A. Education Committee:

Created Inventing Flight, a multi-disciplinary curriculum to help celebrate the Wright Brothers’ Centennial in 2003; more than 1000 copies have been distributed to school districts in the U.S.;
Created AeroLab (with the support of Alcoa Foundation) to address state and national standards in math and science. Over the past two years, the program was field-tested by more than two hundred teachers in six states and recently was selected as a Federal Aviation Administration “best practice”;
Offered numerous teacher training workshops at National Science Teacher Association conferences. In all, more than 10,000 teachers have participated in these programs during the past twelve years.

Action Steps

Popular trends are universally fickle; when something is popular for one generation, inevitably it loses its appeal for the next generation. Air travel and even space travel no longer have the cache they once had; our children now take human flight completely for granted.

We must begin by recognizing that model aviation will never be what it was in the early “Golden Age of Aviation;” the mainstream market is so big and media-driven that it is difficult for us to compete. However, we can compete in a niche. Our work will always appeal to people who have good spatial skills, those who “think with their hands.” We can provide access to this type of learner; they are out there and, if we keep our visibility high and our programs robust, they will find us.

Because we know that the average age of club members is rising, the Committee has decided to take several actions steps to try to reverse this trend by finding ways to engage more young people in our programs. The following are offered as suggestions for ways to move us forward. Some of them are the result of many years of experience gained by the A.M.A. Education Committee; a few only have begun to bear fruit, while others remain untested.

1. First, we to change the culture in our aero-modeling clubs. We need to promote them as a community of learners for adults and young people. A small percentage of our members participate in national and international competitions, while most simply fly for fun. We should do more to celebrate members’ accomplishments because most go to meetings to learn from each other.

We can begin this change with a better definition of public relations, something that many club members view too narrowly. The best public relations campaigns have substance and demonstrate service. We have to document value added: the personal growth in skill and achievement available in club membership; the modeling community’s contribution to student success in math and science; the increased self-esteem through a newcomer’s growth in building and flying skills; and the contribution clubs can make to after-school and camp activities.

2. To help us accomplish a change in direction, the A.M.A. Education Committee is working on creating clearly stated goals with a plan for action and accomplishment. The old saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there,” is applicable. An example draft of a goals and objective document being considered by the A.M.A. Education Committee may be found in Appendix A.

3. In non-formal education, we need to promote more after-school and weekend events as well as summer camps, where activities can be non-academic and open-ended. The challenge will be how to develop mentors. We need a more attractive and inter-active website; we need to establish an electronic magazine to serve as a clearinghouse on the website; we need to offer more workshops and roundtables with members to connect people with knowledge with those who need support and information.

We need to reward clubs with grants for demonstrating leadership. For example, the A.M.A. Education Committee created Youth Education Stipend (Y.E.S.) financial grants and for twelve years has awarded nearly $50,000 to A.M.A. clubs to help create after-school programs and summer camps. We know we must create clubs with a separate identity for young people, making it possible for them to connect with one another and to socialize with peers; we cannot expect them to join a club dominated by seniors. However, creating clubs for juniors does not preclude a need to recruit older flyers who will act as mentors to young people.

4. As for formal education, we need to make other aerospace organizations aware that we are experts in the use of flying models as instructional tools to increase student achievement. Most activities in classroom science involve challenging projects so AeroLab was designed by A.M.A. members to use model aircraft in activities that are analytical, combining meaningful tasks with rigorous cause-and-effect lessons. Flying models can serve as a platform to provide simple, inexpensive, activities in math, science, and technology, especially important in an age of state and national examinations. We created these activities for science classrooms because it is where young people are; someday a few may become modelers!

The A.M.A. Education Committee promotes what some call “the art of fine play.” If play is the “work” of children, fine play (fun with a purpose) is the work of teachers. Obviously there is still a place for classroom demonstrations by club members - fun activities to peak student interest - but we can no longer presume to take precious instructional time without addressing teachers’ needs to accomplish curricular objectives. Teacher workshops for professional organizations (with help from teachers who have successfully used the activities) as well as articles in professional journals will, over time, bring success in this effort.

5. We must continue our efforts to cooperate with other aerospace organizations. We have had great success so far, but there are still too many groups who re-invent the wheel in isolation when they could be assisting the work of each other through collaboration. Helping others achieve common goals creates synergy, and reduces competition for scarce resources.

6. Assessment: If we have clear objectives and a plan of action, we need to create ways to measure accomplishment, whether it is growth in membership, more youth groups or higher participation in national or international competitions. We need to realistically define success; we must be persistent and patient because the effort will take years, not months. One example of the A.M.A. Education Committee’s accomplishment that took years to produce results is the impact that student Science Olympiad participation has had with the success of United States junior indoor free-flight competitors.

In Conclusion:

The A.M.A.’s objective for formal and non-formal education is to produce better students using model aircraft as an instructional tool. In addition, we believe our effort also will contribute to workforce development as well as a more informed citizenry. And, we believe that a by-product of service to our communities will, in the long run, produce greater interest in model aviation.

By any conservative estimate, since 1995, more than 250,000 students and teachers in formal education programs, including participants in non-formal education projects with the Smithsonian Institution, the Science Olympiad, the Technology Student Association, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Experimental Aircraft Association, have built and flown miniature aircraft to learn about the science, skill and beauty of flight through the work of A.M.A. staff members, Education Committee volunteers, and club members. In aggregate, the number of children impacted by the work of the education staff and Education Committee volunteers quite possibly exceeds the number of young people who, many years ago, made modeling a part of their education and life-long learning during the “Golden Age of Aviation.” This collective effort continues to give real meaning to the Academy in our name.