Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Paper Airplanes

For Students 9th - 10th
At this site students will use origami to fold a paper airplane that fly better than the classic dart airplane.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Take Off With Paper Airplanes

For Teachers 5th - 7th
This lesson introduces learners to the art of designing an airplane through paper airplane constructions. The goal is that students will learn important aircraft design considerations and how engineers must iterate their designs to...
Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Defining an Engineering Design Problem With Paper Airplanes

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this fun lesson, you will be the "customer" ordering a paper airplane, and your student teams will be engineering companies that will manufacture planes. Before they start making planes, they need to define the criteria and...
Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Numb3 Rs: Experimenting With Paper Airplanes

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Based off of the hit television show NUMB3RS, this "fun" lesson has students creating paper airplanes and testing different variables (weight, wings, etc.) to see what type of plane flies the best. Data Analysis and imagination are both...
Activity
Other

Easy to Make Paper Airplanes

For Students 3rd - 8th
Have fun making different kinds of flying vehicles. You will learn how to make a paper airplane, helicopter, rocket, blimp, etc.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Building a Paper Airplane Using Bernoulli's Principle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
This is a culmination activity used after students have studied Bernoulli's Principle as part of a unit on forces and fluids. Students will use the Internet, textbooks, library resources and their cooperative learning group to design...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Heads Up

For Teachers 5th - 7th
The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate some of the different parts of an airplane through the construction of a paper airplane. Students will build several different kinds of paper airplanes in order to figure out what makes an...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Are You in Control?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
This lesson teaches the engineering method for testing wherein one variable is changed while the others are held constant. Students compare the performance of a single paper airplane design while changing the shape, size and position of...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Better by Design

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
The purpose of this activity is to use a scientific method to determine the effect of control surfaces on a paper glider. The students will construct a paper airplane/glider and test its performance to determine the base characteristics...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Up, Up and Away! Airplanes

For Teachers 4th - 6th
The airplanes unit begins with a lesson on how airplanes create lift, which involves a discussion of air pressure and how wings use Bernoulli's Principle to change air pressure. Following the lessons on lift, students explore the other...
Activity
Michigan Reach Out

Reach Out!: Making Paper Airplane Gliders

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students learn the fundamentals of aerodynamics in this hands-on exercise.
Activity
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Kids Web Japan: Let's Try Origami

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Animated step-by-step instructions show how to make a paper airplane. Colorful graphics make it easy for even very young learners to follow along with this fun paper-folding activity.
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: Inventors and Inventions 2: Air and Space

For Teachers K - 1st
After discussing important flying inventions, students explore technological design by making paper airplanes.
Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers

For Students 9th - 10th
Over 49,000 digitized primary documents having to do with the Wright brothers and their work with flight. A timeline of the brothers' work, a family tree, and other special presentations are offered.
Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Hoopster

For Students 3rd - 8th
Students create their own airplane using straws and other materials and learn the principles of aerodynamics.
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Why Winglets?

For Students 6th - 9th
Make a paper airplane and experiment with adding winglets to it to test its performance. The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an abstract, objective, and introduction, followed by a section on terms,...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Hedy Lamarr: Engineering and Invention

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover Hedy Lamarr's contributions as a woman in STEM in this video from the American Masters film, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. Lamarr has received belated acknowledgement for inventing frequency hopping, the basis of secure...
Activity
NASA

Nasa: Glenn Research Center: Teamwork in Aerospace Activity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learn about the principles of aerospace engineering and the importance of teamwork by designing and building a paper airplane for a "fly-off" competition. Lesson plan includes introduction to team structure, activity directions, and...
Lesson Plan
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)

Smile: Airplanes (2 3)

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
This paper airplane lesson plan helps young scholars learn about certain concepts like air resistance, motion, and aerodynamics.
Lesson Plan
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)

Smile: Lab Activity: Aviation

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a student lab activity in which the flight of a paper airplane is investigated and studied. Designed for primary grades, but easily adaptable for junior high students.
Activity
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Nctm: Figure This: Glide Ratio

For Students 6th - 8th
How far can you fly a paper airplane? Math challenge provides practice in comparing quantities.
Activity
Exploratorium

Exploratorium: Spinning Blimps

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students create a blimp and then experiment with the design to improve its aerodynamics.
Lesson Plan
Other

Lesson Plan Activities: Amelia Earhart and Airplanes

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
This site features several lesson ideas and activities on Amelia Earhart and airplanes for young learners.
Website
Other

Aunt Annie's Crafts

For Students 9th - 10th
This simple craftmaking site features downloads, basic how-tos, and ordering information for the site-sponsor's craft books.

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