Flying in Unusual Places

Watch your marshmallows fly. The engaging STEM activity has groups create a catapult to launch marshmallows. After testing their prototypes, they consider improvements and redesign their catapults.

How have birds evolved from prehistoric animals? With the three-part lesson plan, small groups first research different prehistoric animals and determine whether they are birds. Then, scholars explore different bird adaptations using the...

Take a trip into outer space from the safety of your classroom. A great addition to the digital library of any science teacher, this reference offers a behind-the-scenes look at the research going at the International...

What can fighting fruit flies tell us about our own brains? Junior geneticists explore the common genes of fruit flies and humans and learn how scientists are using the tiny insects to help study depression, anger, and Alzheimer's...

Use the instructions from this Science Buddies project to develop your hypothesis on whether flying rings fly farther than flying disks. The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an abstract, objective, and...

Back in the day, all birds had the ability to fly. Why would evolutionary adaptations take that away from some species? A video presentation discusses the cost of having the ability to fly and why that feature may not be ideal for...

Young conservation biologists have an opportunity to get involved in the effort to save endangered species. After reading and illustrating the tale of the Flying Frog, they craft a tale about another fictional endangered species.

Young scholars design and test paper airplanes to understand the concept of lift and how it affects flight. This technology-based Science instructional activity is excellent for use with upper-elementary and middle-level learners and...

Students are introduced to the four forces of flight--drag, lift, thrust, and weight--through a variety of fun-filled flight experiments. They "fly" for short periods and evaluate factors that might either increase or decrease their...

In The Hunger Games novel and movie, a futuristic, dystopian society is the setting. In it, a genetically engineered bird escapes control of the government. Using this as a starting point, teenagers examine the realistic possibility of...