Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and NASA will bring their award-winning, hip-hop physics education program, FMA Live! Forces in Motion, to more than 40 public, private and military-connected middle schools in the Midwest this fall. The widely popular show brings hip-hop music, dancers, larger-than-life demonstrations and audience participation to illustrate how physics plays a role in everyday life. FMA Live! has been performed before 415,000 students in more than 1,100 schools from all 48 contiguous U.S. states, as well as in Mexico and Canada, since its creation in 2004. The fall tour launches in Minneapolis, Minn., this week.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s engineers and scientists,” said Mike Bennett, President, Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company’s corporate citizenship initiative. “We know that science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning teaches students critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that are applicable to nearly every career field. Our goal is to expose students to programs such as FMA Live! Forces in Motion to pique their interest in pursuing STEM education and career paths.”
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravity and Three Laws of Motion are key elements in the unique program. Named after Newton’s Second Law of Motion [Force equals Mass times Acceleration], FMA Live! Forces in Motion captures the audience’s attention with outside-the-box demonstrations. It aims to inspire future innovators to pursue careers in STEM.
“Every child should have a solid foundation in STEM, which can open doors they may not have known existed. Getting them excited is the first step – from there, the career possibilities are endless,” said Donald James, NASA Associate Administrator for Education. “This has been a great collaboration between NASA and Honeywell, and I’m proud of how many schools and students we’ve engaged through FMA Live!”
During the fall 2015 tour, FMA Live! will perform in 10 states: Minneapolis, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. The program also will travel to the west coast of the United States in spring 2016.
“This program captures students’ imaginations,” said Principal Deb Ostrowski, whose Mt. Pleasant Middle School students were part of the spring 2015 FMA Live! tour. “It was amazing to see how attentive they were during the performance. FMA Live! will leave a lasting impression on them and we can’t thank Honeywell and NASA enough for providing us with this memorable STEM education opportunity.”
The FMA Live! Forces in Motion includes an online “Teacher’s Lounge” with free lesson plans and other tools to incorporate into their classroom learning objectives. To learn more visit FMALive.com.
About FMA Live!
Using live actors, hip-hop songs, music videos, interactive scientific demonstrations and video interviews with scientists and engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the show teaches Newton’s Three Laws of Motion and Universal Law of Gravity.
Honeywell and NASA created FMA Live! to inspire middle school students to explore STEM concepts and careers. The program addresses Forces and Motion learning objectives outlined by the Next Generation Science Education Standards for students in grades 5-8.
Through Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company has a number of award-winning programs focused on inspiring students at all grade levels to embrace STEM education. The company chose physics for FMA Live! Forces in Motion because studies have shown that the middle school years of education offer the best window of opportunity to get kids interested in STEM careers.
