Demonstrate Flight

Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...

Yards or inches? Understanding measurements has a lot to do with units, so give scholars some scenarios and have them choose the appropriate unit. There are six labeled images here requiring weight, distance, length, and capacity. They...

Students investigate ways to enhance an object's flying ability.  In this model construction lesson, students construct two paper airplanes, one of which is twice as big as the first.  Students compare and contrast the two...

Students create a paper dart airplane and measure its flight pattern. In this flight lesson, students follow the included directions to build their own paper airplane. The students change the aileron configurations to see how it affects...

Fifth graders create paper gliders and check for flight distance and time. In this flight lesson, 5th graders create a paper glider from the attached worksheet and adjust the rudder, aileron, and elevator. They see how these adjustments...

Fourth graders study flight and compare various flights.  In this measurement lesson plan students complete a lab activity and record measurements. 

Students practice map skills. In this map skills instructional activity, students locate the cities of New York and Paris on a map. Students read about the flight made by Charles Lindbergh in May 1927 from New York to Paris. Students...

Change one variable and try again. Teams build basic balsa gliders and collect data on their flight distances and times. Through collaboration, the team decides on two modifications to make to the basic design and collect data for the...

When exploring Mars, spacecrafts are exposed to 5-11 times more sunlight than when near Earth. Groups of pupils complete a hands-on activity to explore how distance and angle of the sun affect temperature. Through discussions, they then...

While this lesson focuses on a study of the Hudson River, it could be used as a template for a discussion of map skills, converting measurements, and plotting a route. The lesson includes vocabulary and other resources to make it a...