Motion is the focus of ten hands-on activities that challenge scholars to build machines invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Following several steps, small groups work collaboratively to recreate machines including levers, pulleys, wheels,...

Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.

Young scholars discuss parachutes and write a procedure to determine the effect of different size parachutes and different masses on the time it takes the masses to fall. They record all their data from their experiment then write three...

This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...

Students engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion...

Students study the basics of parachuting.  In this flight and aerodynamics lesson plan students make a simple parachute and investigate different variables that can cause potential problems.

Students 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...

Sixth graders make 2 different kinds of parachutes and record and graph the time for each one for the different drag forces. In this parachute lesson plan, 6th graders compare the results to the rest of the class of each parachute and...

Students explore different size circles to discover the relationship between diameter and circumference. In this circles and Pi lesson, students construct simple parachutes using circle patterns of varying sizes. Students predict the...

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...

Learners will have fun creating a parachute to collect data with. They will construct the parachute in small groups, measure the materials, and create an observation sheet. Then they drop the parachute and make predictions about how long...

You have to crack a few eggs to make a good engineer! Working in small groups, young scholars design, build, and test devices that protect an egg from breaking when dropped from a ladder.

Watch out below! Future engineers come up with methods to ensure that a ball in a cup stays in the cup even after dropped from a given height. It might be prudent to include some kind of shock absorber in the cup. Parachutes are a good...

Students create a simple paper parachute. In this parachute design instructional activity, students examine the effects of the wind and make napkin parachutes.  

Get things moving with this elementary science unit on simple machines. Through a series of nine lessons including teacher demonstrations, hands-on activities, and science experiments, young scientists learn about forces, motion,...

Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...

Second graders experiment to understand how force is effected by friction.  In this forces in action activity, 2nd graders view a website to simulate what happens when the height of a ramp is changed. Students participate in an...

Students investigate how to make a good parachute. In this physics lesson, students observe the motion of parachutes as it falls and measure the time. They collect data and calculate the average descent time for each canopy shape.

Pupils study drag and how it affects a parachute in the sky.  For this parachutes lesson students build models and compare their drag. 

Students investigate how weight affects a parachute's rate of fall.  In this investigative instructional activity students test parachutes, average results and conclude what makes a faster descent.

Students investigate space travel. In this space travel lesson students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.

Space diving refers to the act of jumping from outer space and falling through Earth's atmosphere before parachuting to land. Scholars learn about this extreme activity and study the layers of the atmosphere they must conquer in the...

Students examine force and conduct activities that model parachutes and helicopters.  In this airplanes instructional activity students identify the forces that make airplanes fly higher and land. 

Students investigate how seeds are dispersed on land.  In this plant biology lesson, students use a dissecting microscope to study strawberry seeds and dandelion seeds, they draw what they see, then create a hypothesis on the seeds...