Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Designing Fast and Slow Airplanes and Measuring Velocity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, young scholars design their own airplanes and fly them. The challenge is to create a fast plane and a slow plane and compare the speed to the design.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: What Makes Airplanes Fly?

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students begin to explore the idea of a force. To further their understanding of drag, gravity and weight, they conduct activities that model the behavior of parachutes and helicopters. An associated literacy activity engages the class...
Handout
Science Museum, London

Science Museum Online Stuff: The First Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
An excellent article about how Orville and Wilbur Wright's interest in flight developed and led to the first airplane flight.
Handout
Other

National Aviation Hall of Fame: Wiley Post

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about Wiley Post, who made the first global solo flight in 1931.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: The History of Flight: From Breakthroughs to Disasters

For Students 9th - 10th
From hot-air balloons floating over Paris to a dirigible crashing over New Jersey, here are some of the biggest moments of aviation history. Below is a timeline of humans' obsession with flight, from da Vinci to drones. Fasten your...
Unit Plan
Other

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery: The Earhart Project

For Students 9th - 10th
The Earhart Project is an international group of scientists, historians, and other individuals who are investigating whether there is any truth behind the idea that Amelia Earhart and her flight navigator, Fred Noonan, might have been...
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: The Flight of Amelia Earhart

For Teachers 4th - 8th
A lesson unit to help students in grades 4-8 learn about the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The interactive timeline shows advances in technology and the world as a backdrop to Amelia's life.
Activity
The Franklin Institute

Franklin Institute Online: The Challenge of Flight

For Students 3rd - 8th
Think about the challenges that faced the Wright Brothers, then see if you can design and fly your own model aircraft. There are other sources provided to help you along the way.
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Flight Simulators: From Flaps to Flying

For Students 6th - 8th
Before pilots ever step behind the controls of a real jet they've already logged thousands of virtual air miles. It might not qualify you to fly a real jumbo jet, but you too, can learn the logistics of aviation by experimenting with the...
Article
A&E Television

History.com: 6 Little Known Pioneers of Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
From an early glider experimenter to the first man to fly solo around the world, here are six lesser-known pilots and inventors who made their mark on aviation.
Handout
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Early Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
Collection of digital resources gathered from public libraries, archives, and museums about early aviation. Learn more about key innovators and technologies from early flight experimentation and the invention of the hot air balloon to...
Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Pioneers of Flight: Civilian Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
Even after Lindbergh's famous solo flight, he continued to explore flight and its possibilities. Look inside the Sirius cockpit and then pack up yourself to fly around the world. One problem, however, you only can take on a limited...
Website
The Franklin Institute

Resources for Science Learning: The Wright 1911 Model B Flyer in Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
See film footage and read brief descriptions of Grover Cleveland Bergdoll's 1911 Model B flyer flight in 1934.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: The Amazing Flying Machine

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the Wright brothers inventing the airplane and how that led to other aircraft inventions. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Article
A&E Television

History.com: What Happened to Twa Flight 800?

For Students 9th - 10th
Minutes after its take off from New York's Kennedy International Airport, a Boeing 747 headed for Paris exploded midair over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996, leaving all 230 people aboard dead. The...
Graphic
South Carolina Educational Television

Etv: Nasa Online: Flight: Thrust

For Students 3rd - 8th
An introduction to thrust and how it relates to airplanes, told in an animated format.
Article
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Libraries:taking to the Skies: Wright Brothers, Birth of Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
An article regarding the Wright brother's history of flight. Includes pictures and further reading material.
Graphic
First World War

First World war.com: Aviation Photographs

For Students 9th - 10th
An extensive amount of aviation photographs from WWI. There is also a link to introductory notes on aviation and aviators in the war.
Article
University of Houston

University of Houston: Engines of Our Ingenuity: No. 1362: Flying Across the Atlantic

For Students 9th - 10th
Article discussing the early flights across the Atlantic. This is a transcript of an accompanying radio broadcast.
Website
Other

Aviation Internet Group: Aviation Theory

For Students 9th - 10th
Collection of articles ranging from basic to advanced on aerodynamics theory.
Website
Other

Museum of Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
The Museum of Flight collects and exhibits historically significant artifacts of air and space travel.
Primary
Ibis Communications

Eye Witness to History: The Wright Brothers First Flight 1903

For Students 9th - 10th
Orville Wright's account of his and his brother's first three airplane trial flights.
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Flight: What Is Weight?

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover how the factor of weight affects airplanes in flight.
Website
Other

Eaa Aviation Center: The B 17 Flying Fortress

For Students 9th - 10th
Meet the B-17 "Flying Fortress," a World War II airplane. Take the interactive tour. Discover the history, photographs, testimonials, videos to watch, and views of the interior of the plane.

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