Parachutes

This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...

Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.

Students explore different size circles to discover the relationship between diameter and circumference. In this circles and Pi lesson, students construct simple parachutes using circle patterns of varying sizes. Students predict the...

Learners are presented with the problem of constructing a parachute that has the maximum hang time. They construct their own parachute using available materials. Pupils drop their parachutes from a height of two meters and record the...

Middle schoolers engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class...

Pupils control the parachutes using arm movements. They follow directions while participating in games. Students explore the effects of wind on several objects. They study the effects of shape, size and weight on a parachute.

Learners make a parachute. For this air resistance lesson, students create a parachute using materials they think will work the best. Learners try out their parachutes, noting which one worked the best. Students discuss how the size,...

Students study the invention of the parachute and how Leonardo da Vinci came up with the design.  In this aerodynamics instructional activity students test the properties that make parachutes more efficient.

In this physics worksheet, students construct a parachute using the materials listed on the sheet that will have the longest and closest target when dropped from a specific height. Then they record their results after three trials.

Students design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...