PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Flight
A Reading Adventure pack focuses on the invention of flight. After reading a fiction and nonfiction book, scholars take their newfound knowledge to design a one-passenger flying device, experiment with different types of paper airplanes...
Teach Engineering
Equal and Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You're a Pushover!
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...
PhysEdGames
Dinosaur Prowl
Prowl like a dinosaur! Choose several students to be the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs with dodge balls are the taggers, and the Triceratops on the scooters are the freers. As the other players are tagged with balls, the Triceratops scoot...
Exploratorium
Antigravity Mirror
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's super student! Physical science stars can fly during a unit on light as they see the reflection of one leg in a mirror, behind which the other holds them up.
Curated OER
Reel Projects
Students investigate projectile motion. In this projectile motion lesson, students investigate a website with an interactive lesson. Students view the changes in the projectile they see in the lesson. Students watch short video clips and...
101 Questions
World Record Airbag
Luckily, he hit the air bag. Scholars watch a video from the Guinness World Records that shows a stuntman falling from 342 feet. The task at hand is to determine his velocity when he hits the air bag. Thank goodness for the cushion!
It's About Time
Defy Gravity
Test the limits of gravity while encouraging full class participation with this thrilling lesson. Pupils investigate the meaning of work and how it is equivalent to energy. They explore the joule and apply it as a unit of work. They...
Exploratorium
Whack-a-Stack
Go wild as you hit a stack of wooden blocks to demonstrate Newton's first and second laws of motion. The blocks at the top of the stack stay put as you knock one at a time out of the bottom. Note, however, that you will need to...
Curated OER
Hatchet: Concept Analysis
Take an in-depth look into Gary Paulsen's Hatchet with a concept guide. With a list and explanation of thematic motifs, types of conflicts, and vocabulary in the novel, learners will engage with the text in a whole new way.
Illustrative Mathematics
Satellite
Learners practice relating rules of trigonometry and properties of circles. With a few simplifying assumptions such as a perfectly round earth, young mathematicians calculate the lengths of various paths between satellite and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Flying With Style
As students begin to understand the physics behind thrust, drag, and gravity and how these relate these to Newton's three laws of motion, groups assemble and launch the rockets that they designed in the associated lesson.
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Flying Wing
In this lesson plan students can make a flying wing and trouble-shoot until the wing glides smoothly.
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Practice Problems: Speed of Horizontal Projectile
Students must determine the horizontal speed of a projectile based on the distance that it travels and other given information. Students must find the time of flight and put it in milliseconds. Finally, students must find the final...
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute Online: The Challenge of Flight
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.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: You Are There, First Flight
Students learn about archives and primary sources as they research original historical documents. While preparing an imaginative first-person account as if witnessing an historical event, they learn to appreciate the value of the...
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Maple Seed Helicopters
Students study the aerodynamic properties of a maple seed and then apply what they observe making their own flying object.
University of Minnesota
The Physics of Flight: Bernoulli's Principle
Discusses air flow around the wing of a plane and its effect upon the lift and drag forces. Focuses on the application of Bernoulli's principle to wing design and the subsequent airfoil shapes.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Hoopster
Students create their own airplane using straws and other materials and learn the principles of aerodynamics.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Balancing Ball: Suspend a Ball in a Stream of Air
In this lesson plan students learn about air flow using a suspended ball in an air stream.
NASA
Nasa: Rockets Educator Guide: Water Rocket Launcher
Follow the directions in the lesson plan to construct a water rocket launcher made from off the shelf hardware and wood.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Weight
In this activity, students investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. Students construct a variety of their own straw-launched rockets, or "strawkets," that have different weights. Specifically, they observe what happens...