![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Caroline-Little-1024x950.png\")
The Crossfield Award, founded in 1986 by NAHF Enshrinee\nScott Crossfield, is a juried annual competition to recognize a teacher for his\nor her exemplary use of aerospace in their classroom curricula. Crossfield, who\nwas inducted in 1983, was a renowned test pilot, research pilot and aerospace\nresearcher. His tests with pressurized suits led to the development of the\nspace suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The successful nomination was made by Mr. Mark Westlake,\nSaint Thomas Academy Innovation Center Director, and an AIAA Educator of the\nYear. In his nomination, Westlake said \u201cCaroline Little is a wonderful addition\nto the list of A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Teacher of the Year awardees for\nthe role she has had developing young women and men into explorers who see\nthemselves as agents of change.\u201d Westlake also said, \u201cMs. Little’s passion for\nscience and engineering education can be seen in the projects and contests she\nmakes available for her students. Watching her sophomore students test their\nsimulated satellite insertion device (SLED) as her team of teachers\nparticipated in NASA’s Microgravity University for Educators is just as\nexciting as listening to a group of her top juniors make their final\npresentations to NASA Langley Engineers on their work to develop protective\nwear for astronauts during long duration Space travel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little\u2019s accomplishments span twenty years and include the\ndevelopment of complex and engaging science and space curriculum for students.\nShe uses significant and impactful experiences to elevate her teaching for the\nbenefit of her students. An appropriate example of this is following her 2016\nparticipation in NASA’s MgUE professional development program, which allows\nparticipants learn and experience microgravity and culminates with 5 days of\nintense training at Johnson Space Center. \nInspired by the experience, she became a NASA Human Exploration Rover\nChallenge Mentor. In this role, Little led the St. Thomas Academy NASA Rover\nTeam to become the top US High School Team in 2018\/9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Ben Tierney, Former Director of Middle School &\nDirector of K-12 Academics of Visitation School said, \u201cCaroline teaches with a\ncontagious and effervescent enthusiasm for science education. Everyone around\nher knows that she not only cares deeply for the content, but more importantly\ncares that her students are able to see themselves in the content, see\nthemselves as future scientists, and know that they will always have a\ntenacious fan in Mrs. Little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little has earned several honors and awards for her work\nwith students in science and engineering. These include, in 2021, being named a\nfinalist in the Edward C. Roy Jr. Award for Excellence in K-8 Earth Science\nTeaching, a National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Teaching\nFellow and the recipient of an Air Force Association Educator Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Phil Roberts, NAHF Awards Chair, said \u201cMs. Little\u2019s\nnomination was unanimously selected for the 2021 Crossfield Award. After\nreviewing her extraordinary biography, previous Crossfield winners are excited\nand truly impressed. The addition of Caroline truly elevates an already\nprestigious group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) recently announced that Caroline Little, Space Foundation Teacher Liaison, the Smithsonian\u2019s National Air and Space Museum Teacher Innovator Institute Fellow, and NASA Wearable Equipment to Avert Radiation Mentor, can now add the NAHF\u2019s 2021 A. Scott Crossfield Educator of the Year to her impressive resume. The Crossfield Award, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-minnesota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19679,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19677\/revisions\/19679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}