North Texas Students Look To The Sky At Aviation Camp

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Some students from across North Texas are looking up from their televisions and tablets, and shooting for the stars. Aviation camp lets kids spend their summer flying planes and shooting off rockets -- but it's not just play. This is educational.

You don't have to wait for the school year to learn about science and engineering. The Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas gives elementary-aged children an opportunity to explore these topics during their week-long aviation camp. Kids can try their hands at a flight simulator, build model planes and blast rockets. It's an interactive learning experience.

"We want them to look up and see all the possibilities that they have and they can be," said Cheryl Sutterfield-Jones, CEO and president of the Frontiers of Flight Museum. She said that it was important to offer such opportunities to North Texas children.

But it might be even more important to offer such experiences to kids during the summer months. "They don't even know they're learning most of the time," Sutterfield-Jones added, "but you can see them and watch them with the activities, and they come away saying, 'Wow, guess what I learned today!'"

The flight simulator is a particular hit with the students. "It's like you're actually driving a real plane, and you actually get to learn how," said third-grader Carlos Corona.

Aviation camp instructor Jessica Gradante knows that this is the way that kids need to learn nowadays. "I know, when I was a kid, we did some stuff. But nothing quite like this, where you can build your own plane, shoot your own rocket," Gradante said.

It's summer science learning that's hitting the target.