Today's lesson: how to defy gravity

Pity the passenger who didn't immediately heed the bullhorn's call of "feet down, comin' out!"

It was a warning that the people performing airborne flips and Superman poses were about to collapse onto the floor mats of G-Force-One, a Boeing 727 modified to perform zero-gravity flights.

Sixty math and science teachers from across the U.S. learned the lesson Tuesday as part of the Northrop Grumman Foundation's Weightless Flights of Discovery program.

"I didn't know which end was up," said Kevin Keehn, a science teacher at Sundling Junior High in Palatine. "It's incredibly disorienting and impossible to get organized. ... Really cool, though."

Teachers boarded the plane at O'Hare and set off for northern Wisconsin. About 30 minutes in, they moved from their seats to the front two-thirds of the fuselage, which was gutted and padded.

In a series of roller coaster-like maneuvers known as parabolas, the aircraft climbed at a 45-degree angle and then went into a controlled descent that created a zero-gravity effect for 25 to 30 seconds.

To ease into the sensation, pilots started with less-steep parabolas to reach Martian gravity, one-third of the Earth's, and then lunar gravity, or one-sixth. Here's where one-armed push-ups become remarkably easy.

In the 15 parabolas of zero gravity that followed, teachers broke into teams to conduct experiments testing Newton's Laws of Motions. They teachers will have their stories and video to bring back to their classrooms.

"We talk about the difference between mass and weight and how it changes in microgravity and zero gravity, but it's entirely different to be showing their teacher getting tossed in the air to illustrate that point," said Karl Craddock of Fremd High School in Palatine.

Most teams didn't make it through their list of experiments - the temptation to scale the ceiling Spiderman-style proved too powerful.

Greg Piecuch of Holmes Middle School in Wheeling discussed the scientific principles behind marshmallows floating independently of the plastic container that housed them. But the real fun came in racing to eat them midair.

Global defense and technology firm Northrop Grumman Corp., which employs about 2,400 people at its Rolling Meadows campus, started the Weightless Flights of Discovery program three years ago in response to a declining interest in math and science.

"We want to maintain a consistent pipeline of engineers and scientists and this is a way teachers can get their students excited," said Cheryl Horn, manager of community relations.

Sue Key of Lake Zurich Middle School North hopes her experience will help students better grasp abstract concepts.

"We know we're behind the rest of the world. The U.S. put the first man on the moon, and playing catch-up is not an enviable position," Key said. "I'd like to think that 10 years from now, our enthusiasm will have helped more people go into the field."

Other area teachers who went weightless included Laura Anderson, Central Middle School in Burlington; Karissa Berg, Millburn Central School in Wadsworth; Courtney Tumpach and Megan Elmore, Glenn Westlake Middle School in Lombard; Susan Willett, Prairie View Elementary in Elgin; Praneeta Narechani, Winston Campus Junior High in Palatine; Connie Vaught, K.D. Waldo Middle School in Aurora; and Jeff Howat, Hawthorn Middle School North in Vernon Hills.

512375Courtney Tumpach, left, and Meg Elmore, both seventh grade science teacher at Glen Westlake Middle School in Lombard begin to float in zero-g atmosphere Tuesday on a Northrop Grumman Weightless Flight of Discovery.Mary Beth Nolan | Staff Photographer 512342Glen Westlake Middle School teacher Meg Elmore is tossed like a ball in zero gravity by flight coach Chaz Wendling Tuesday on a Northrop Grumman Weightless Flight of Discovery.Mary Beth Nolan | Staff Photographer 389512Greg Peicuch, an eighth-grade science teacher at Holmes Middle School tries to catch a floating marshmallow while weightless Tuesday on a Northrop Grumman foundation Flight of Discovery.Mary Beth Nolan | Staff Photographer 512329Michael Johnson of Harvard School of Excellence in Chicago, Courtney Tumpach and Meg Elmore of Glen Westbrook Middle School in Lombard and Ryan Maxwell of Rauner Collge Prep in Chicago float on their heads.Mary Beth Nolan | Staff Photographer 512331Shown floating upside-down are Daily Herald reporter Kimberly Pohl, far left; Greg Peicuch of Holmes Middle School in Wheeling, third from left; and Courtney Tumpach and Meg Elmore of Glen Westbrook school in Lombard, 3rd and 2nd from the right.Mary Beth Nolan | Staff Photographer <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=253">Teachers in zero gravity</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>