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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
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Purdue University

Exploring Whirligigs

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
What's that silly thing spinning in the wind? It's a whirligig! Explore wonderful windy whirligigs with a STEM-based unit that teaches the science and concepts behind these gigs. Scholars discover how gravity and air resistance...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

May the Force Be With You: Lift

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Get the class up and going with a lesson that discusses how airplane wings provide lift. Pupils use their knowledge of Bernoulli's Principle to develop an explanation of how it creates lift on airplane wings.
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Equal and Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You're a Pushover!

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
It's the law—every action requires a reaction, no matter how small. Pupils experience two demonstrations of Newton's third law of motion as it relates to thrust in the 10th segment of a 22-part unit on flight. Using their mathematical...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Design a Flying Machine

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

Balsa Glider Competition

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Change one variable and try again. Teams build basic balsa gliders and collect data on their flight distances and times. Through collaboration, the team decides on two modifications to make to the basic design and collect data for the...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

May the Force Be With You: Thrust

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Force the plane through the air. The lesson introduces the force on an airplane that makes it go forward. Pupils learn how Newton's laws of motion apply to flight in the eighth segment of a 22-part unit on flight.
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Activity
DiscoverE

Rocket Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
You might just be responsible for launching a future career in rocket science. Pupils use Alka-Seltzer® tablets as the power source for a film-canister rocket. These rockets must able to carry a clay payload and hit a target on a wall.
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Alka-Seltzer Rockets

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Blast off! An engaging hands-on activity has pupils create rockets powered by Alka-Seltzer. They learn about the physics behind these rockets throughout the process.
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Lesson Plan
Florida International University

Designing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV): Concepts in Lift, Drag, Thrust, Energy, Power, Mass, and Buoyancy

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Engineer an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to study concepts of physics. Using household materials, collaborative groups design and build an AUV and then test Newton's Laws of Motion as they apply them in underwater environments...
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Everglades Airboat

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
How does an airboat move when there isn't a motor in the water? The simulation teaches the forces related to the thrust and drag on an airboat. Scholars vary the boat mass and thrust force in order to view graphs of the changing force...
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Pirate Ship

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Everything that happens is an interaction, from the wind blowing a sail to a cannon ball being thrust out of a cannon. A simulation shows the interactions involving a sail, air, ball, pirate, cannon, deck, ocean, and the Earth and the...
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Interactive
CK-12 Foundation

Airplane

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
How does an airplane control its take off and descent? Scholars explore the forces acting on an airplane and control the angle of attack, wing profile, thrust, and airplane size. They learn about lift, drag, thrust, gravity, and the...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Adapatations for Bird Flight - Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Jets in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build an...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Computing the Net Force

For Students 4th - 6th
Adorable little stick figures push and pull a cart of blocks to explain the push and pull of forces. Future physicists then define force and identify it in different situations on the worksheet that follows. Concepts covered include...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Graphing the Four Forces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Crash Course in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High school physicists demonstrate Bernoulli's Principle by blowing on different items and finding that they do not move in the expected direction! They apply Bernoulli's equation to the flight of an airplane. This well-organized lesson...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Physics of Flight

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Makes Airplanes Fly?

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners 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. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Applied Science -Technology (6B) Pre Lab

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders discuss how simple machines overcome friction. In this simple machine lesson, 6th graders review the parts of a plane and how they make up for gravity and friction. They roll different objects down an inclined board...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Solid Rocket Boosters-II

For Students 9th - 12th
In this solid rocket boosters worksheet, students solve 2 problems using a grid showing a cross section of a proposed solid rocket booster. Students complete the grid and shade the rings of combustion in 15-second step intervals. They...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

The Mathematics of Ion Rocket Engines

For Students 9th - 11th
In this ion rocket engines worksheet, students read about how heavy atoms are used to create the thrust in rocket engines. They solve 5 problems including determining the speed of atoms in a satellite, finding the average acceleration of...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Understanding the Four Forces of Flight

For Students 4th - 5th
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.