Kenan Fellows
Introduction to a Flight Computer
Keep your hands on the wheel—at all times! Scholars learn why pilots use a flight computer through a high-flying demonstration. Making calculations for speed, distance, or time is automatic if you know how to use a flight computer.
Teach Engineering
Can You Take the Pressure?
Do not let the pressure get to you. The first lesson in a unit of 22 introduces the concept of air pressure. Using background knowledge, the resource gives teachers the information they need to discuss how people measure air pressure and...
Curated OER
Celebrating 100 Years of Flight
Participate in the 100th anniversary of the first flight. In groups, learners use the internet to research the roles the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart played in promoting the use of flight. They use the information to write and...
Curated OER
Lift and Launch Angle
Students engage in a hands-on experiment to determine how launch angles affect airflow around the wing of an aircraft. They view a series of photographs and read information describing the Wright Brothers' experiences. They complete a...
Curated OER
The Art of "Green" Flying
Students create an airship that doesn't use fossil fuel. In this flying lesson, students research different types of flying machines that only use wind power. They discuss invention designs by Alexander Graham Bell and Leonardo Da Vinci...
Kenan Fellows
Weight and Balance of an Airplane
A career in aeronautics might be calling your class members. Building from the previous two lessons in the series, learners continue analyzing the mathematics of aeronautics. Groups create a paper airplane using paperclips for balance....
Curated OER
Measurement and Paper Airplanes
Sixth graders investigate physics by creating paper airplanes. In this flight experiment lesson, 6th graders utilize stationary tools to create elaborate paper airplanes which they fly on their school grounds. Students complete...
Curated OER
Radiation Comparison Before and After 9-11
Using the NASA website, class members try to determine if changes could be detected in cloud cover, temperature, and/or radiation measurements due to the lack of contrails that resulted from the halt in air traffic after the attacks...
Curated OER
Raptor Force
High schoolers observe a video about pilots, their desired traits, and explore the similarities between a bird and an airplane. Using paper, wood or foam, they design create an aircraft to be flown in a competition to see which plane...
Cornell University
Plant Cell Crime Scene
Use science to solve the mystery of the Poplar murder. Pupils use forensic botany to determine if a suspect could be the killer. By analyzing images from a Transmission Electron Microscope, learners determine if the material found on the...
Teach Engineering
Egg-cellent Landing
The classic egg-drop experiment gets a new bounce with an activity that asks pairs to design a lander similar to one used to land a rover on Mars within a fixed budget. The activity provides a great introduction to the idea of...
Curated OER
Mobility: Fuel for Change
Students determine how to lower the reliance on petroleum-based fuel. In this environmental stewardship activity, students create concept cars for the future that using renewable energy.
Curated OER
Aerospace Engineering
Learners are introduced to aviation history and aerospace engineering achievements. They assemble a class aviation history timeline from individual student research on people and events.
Curated OER
New Perspectives
Eighth graders imagine they are getting ready to "take off." They may imagine themselves in any type of aircraft or spaceship. They may then sketch themselves as passengers anticipating this moment.
Curated OER
Volcanic Clouds and the Atmosphere
Students examine how scientists monitor volcanoes. In this volcano lesson students complete several activities including why we see things when using satellites.
Curated OER
Hurricanes
Upper elementary meteorologists take a glance at what a hurricane is and how it is formed. Because this does not get into the differences in air pressure that drive the associated winds, it may not be useful for older learners. The...
Kenan Fellows
Reading Airline Maintenance Graphs
Airline mechanics must be precise, or the consequences could be deadly. Their target ranges alter with changes in temperature and pressure. When preparing an airplane for flight, you must read a maintenance graph. The second...
Curated OER
THE FLIGHT PLATFORM
Students examine forces that effect flight. In this flight lesson students answer questions that are asked of them and the ones that they ask themselves.
Curated OER
What Makes Airplanes Fly . . . Why Me
Students investigate the historical development of human attempts to fly and the practice of keeping recorded data for historical reasons.
Curated OER
Science: Flight Aerodynamics
Students apply the principles of aerodynamics by constructing styrofoam airplanes. By using simple tools and materials, they improve their spatial visualization abilities while increasing motor skills. After small groups of students...
Curated OER
Exploring Marine Ecosystems in the Caribbean and Maine
Students compare the marine habitats of Maine and the Caribbean using temperature, tides, ocean currents, latitude and longitude. In this marine ecosystems lesson plan, students analyze maps to complete graphic organizers that evaluate...
Curated OER
Understanding Bernoulli's Principle
Fifth graders explain why we fly. In this space science lesson, 5th graders discuss Bernoulli's prinicple and its relation to flight.
Curated OER
How Things Fly
Students conduct a series of hands-on experiments that help them explain the role of lift in fixed-wing flight. They observe the flow of air and water around several surfaces and then consider the dynamics of airflow around an aircraft...
Curated OER
From Pirates to Pilots to Spies
Sixth graders enjoy this introduction to the world of map projections, globes, aerial photographs, and satellite images. This lesson plan instructs students on the advantages and disadvantages of each earthly representation.