Flying Wing

Groups explore concepts of flight by creating paper airplanes from different types of paper and testing their flight. They use the results to identify the optimal material.

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...

Scholars are introduced to the significant events that led to the development of today's modern forms of air travel. They create a timeline to identify the vital events that are related to man's flight. In addition, they research various...

Up, up, and away! Take your classes on a physics adventure. Learners explore the concepts important for flight. They experiment with the Bernoulli Principle while learning the forces that act on airplanes in flight.

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

Fifth graders create a flying wing from a pastry tray. In this flying wing lesson, 5th graders understand how the shape of the wind affects flight. Students compare the flying wing to the zanonia seed in nature. Students make changes in...

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...

Keep everything under control. The lesson, the 16th segment in a 22-part unit, provides a more detailed look at the parts of a plane, specifically the control surfaces. Pupils learn about the construction of the wings and the tails and...

Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.

Sixth graders explore physics by utilizing their math skills. In this flight properties instructional activity, 6th graders examine the flying capabilities of planes and birds. Students utilize math to find how many wing-beats are needed...