Earth to Sky : Moving mountains and flying planes

This pre-recorded field trip will be made available to registered participants from May 9 to May 17, 2024.

Please note: Registration for this field trip is now closed. Sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when we offer it again.

Airplanes can take us anywhere on Earth in a matter of hours, as if by magic.
But building these high-flying machines requires minerals which can only be found deep underground, and need to be transformed into sturdy metals. How do these seemingly fantastic processes even work?

Join E2 Adventures on a high-flying adventure to find out, as we explore an aluminum refinery that turns raw materials into the metal used to make planes, and then an airplane factory to follow along the creation process from A-Z!

TRIP ITINERARY

  • Site 1: Aluminum Smelter

    The first site we’ll explore on our journey is an aluminum smelter! There, we’ll learn all about the aforementioned widely used metal, which in everything from smart phones to cars to the planes in the sky, as we watch it get brought in, smelted down, and reshaped into the parts we need!

  • Site 2: Airplane factory

    Now that we have the metal, how does it all come together into one massive machine? On this second leg of our virtual trip, we’ll explore an aerospace factory that uses parts from all around the world to construct the planes we use to fly in, all while ensuring that these behemoths of the sky stay running safely and soundly!

*please note that all sites are subject to change at any time.

EDUCATIONAL APPROACH

Who is this for?

  • Any math, science, social studies and languages class interested in how something as small as Earth’s minerals can turn into something as massive as an airplane

  • Social studies and language classes investigating Sustainable Development Goals “Innovation & Infrastructure” and “Responsible Consumption & Production”

  • Science classes studying magnetism, materials and exploring flight and investigating the impacts on society of aviation technologies

  • Mathematics classes exploring rates

  • Geography classes exploring the use of natural resources and the impact of their extraction

  • Career and SHSM programs could use this as a promotional tool for students considering their Mining or Manufacturing programs

We always curate educational resource materials for every trip, to help educators of any subject area link their chosen field trip with their curriculum, and engage in all aspects of the Experiential Learning Cycle (Participate-Reflect-Apply).

Click here to see a sample document showing how educators may want to use this trip to engage in more experiential learning!