STEAM is a leading-edge educational concept that comprehensively develops artistic and design sensibilities together with academic abilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It shares an extremely high level of affinity with themes that extend through the world of airplanes and the sky. The first lesson presented the fundamentals of aerodynamics to elementary school students between grades 4 and 6. Aerodynamics is made up of various mechanics and formulas. These complex themes are represented visually in a way that is easy to understand through the design and an application. An experience-based lesson was developed to allow participants to conduct experiments and learn about the airplane flight mechanisms and relationships between planes and their wings. The graphics used convey a sense of trust in JAL as a national client combined with a design sensibility that can be visually understood and give the participating children a feeling for Art.

The lesson is themed on wings, which are symbolic of airplanes. An active JAL pilot and engineer acted as teachers. In the two-hour lesson, the participants first learned about the fundamentals of aerodynamics in a lecture format, then went on to experiment using an application. In the experiment, they construct wings using an airplane model that is capable of over 8,000 wing designs. The model is placed in a hangar-like scanner and an application analyzes the wings. It extrapolates flight capability and speed from the shape of the wings and provides a visual representation of the way that the assembled plane would fly. The lesson closes with a projection of a flight map showing the planes that were made by the participants flying around the world.

Everything from the teaching materials, the applications, and the official JAL STEAM SCHOOL website is presented unified by an image in line with JAL’s values as an airline company. The graphics, which convey a sense of trust in JAL as a national client, combined with a design sensibility that can be visually understood and give the participating children a feeling for Art, have further strengthened the SORAIKU brand image. After the first implementation of the program, JAL STEAM SCHOOL was picked up in numerous media, and inquiries from public institutions, schools, and local government bodies all over Japan were received about running the program. In this March, the program was run for the second time at the Science Museum, Tokyo. It is also scheduled for Tokyo University and Akita Prefecture in June and July respectively. It serves to gain further recognition for SORAIKU and win new fans for the initiative.