Glide Away

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...

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, students construct two paper airplanes, one of which is twice as big as the first.  Students compare and contrast the two separate...

Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...

Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. For this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...

This NASA video segment introduces students to the best construction and design of airplane wings. Find links to other aircraft video segments and numerous other student activities. [3:38]

Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...

Glide into the study of flight. An engaging activity has scholars research information on the Wright brothers. They develop props and produce a recreation of the first flight at Kitty Hawk. They then report on the event as if they were...

Which modification is the best? Using the scientific method, pairs determine the effects of each control surface on the distance of a glider's flight. The activity, section 16 in a 22-part unit on aviation, allows pupils to gain a better...

Deploy an activity that requires deploying a parachute. An engaging lesson challenges learners to design and construct parachutes. They test out their creations and consider what changes should be made to improve the parachute's...