Exploratorium
Balancing Ball
Demonstrate lift to the class that is studying aerodynamics. In the stream of air produced by a blow dryer, little physicists place a wad of tissue paper and a spherical figure to compare. Or, if you have a vacuum cleaner and beach ball,...
Curated OER
Exploring Aerodynamics
Students explore aerodynamics. For this aerodynamics lesson, students study the flight patterns of three paper airplanes and discover the underlying principles of aerodynamics. Resources and grade level modifications are present.
Curated OER
Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight
Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...
Curated OER
Graphing the Four Forces
Using the Cartesian coordinate system, future flight experts plot points to determine whether or not an airplane will fly. With the four forces of weight, lift, drag, and thrust represented in different quadrants, your physics learners...
Curated OER
The Physics of Flight
Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...
Curated OER
Air and Aerodynamics
In this science worksheet, students find the words that are related to the vocabulary of air and aerodynamics. The answers are found at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics
Students, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook, you demonstrate an understanding of the text by applying it to questions involving the theories of how a wing produces lift.
Curated OER
Aerodynamics
Students discover the basic principles of aerodynamics, including the roles and identity of natural forces involved. They examine how the force of gravity is overcome by the curved shape of an airplane wing and air pressure.
Curated OER
Kite Experiments and Building Information
Students build their own kite following certain procedures. In this physics lesson, students explain the aerodynamics concepts involved in flying kites. They trace the development of aviation.
Yale University
Airplane Mathematics
The history of aerodynamics is rich with experimentation and international collaboration. Author Joyce Bryant relays this dynamic past and provides math word problems using the formula of lift, the force that makes airplanes fly. She...
Curated OER
What Makes Thing Fly?
Second graders study lift, drag and thrust from a real flight instructor. In this physical science lesson students build and fly paper airplanes and experiment with variations and design.
Curated OER
Aerodynamics of Cycling
High schoolers study aerodynamic forces - lift and drag - and see how those forces affect cycling performance. They see how those forces are calculated and how
Curated OER
Density and Lift
Middle schoolers, after reading from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate an understanding of the text by solving problems on density and predicting which density give the most lift.
Curated OER
Aviation, Aeronautics and Aerodynamics
Students investigate the physics of flight through various experiments. In this physics lesson plan, students construct different flying objects. They explain the dynamics that make these object fly.
Curated OER
Blow-and-Go Parachute
Learners design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...
Curated OER
How the force of air helps an airplane fly.
Students appropriately the following terms in sentences: drag, thrust, gravity, aerodynamics and lift.
Curated OER
Airplane Wings
Students examine the aerodynamics of a wing and how it generates lift. In this flight activity students complete several experiments including how to build a paper plane and how airfoils affect performance.
Curated OER
What Makes Airplanes Fly?
Students examine force and conduct activities that model parachutes and helicopters. In this airplanes lesson students identify the forces that make airplanes fly higher and land.
Curated OER
The Lift Equation Problem Set
Students, after reading the Lift Equation page from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate an understanding of the lift equation by answering questions.
Curated OER
Lift/Velocity Relationship Problem Set
High schoolers, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate their ability to use, graph (using a graphing calculator), and interpret a text equation.
Curated OER
Understanding the Four Forces of Flight
In this four forces of flight worksheet, students read a 1 page article on flights, answer 5 questions with multiple choice answers, draw a line to connect the four forces to their definitions and answer 1 short answer scenario.
Curated OER
Wing Area Effects Problem Set
Students read an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook on lift and an explanation on the FoilSim software package given below. They use FoilSim to evaluate the relationship between wing area and lift.
Curated OER
Velocity Effects Problem Set
Students, after reading an explanation on lift from a NASA Web-based textbook and an explanation on the FoilSim software package given below, use FoilSim to evaluate the relationship between velocity and lift.
Curated OER
100 Years of Flight
Students investigate Bernoulli's principle of air pressure and how it
relates to the lift of an airplane. Students identify various Aeronautical vocabulary terms. Students construct a paper glider and experiment with the control surfaces...