NASA
Nasa: Beginner's Guide to Aerodynamics
Includes exhaustive information and a wealth of activities pertaining to aerodynamics and the physics of flight.
Michigan Reach Out
Reach Out!: Making Paper Airplane Gliders
Students learn the fundamentals of aerodynamics in this hands-on exercise.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Better by Design
The purpose of this activity is to use a scientific method to determine the effect of control surfaces on a paper glider. The students will construct a paper airplane/glider and test its performance to determine the base characteristics...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Hoopster
Students create their own airplane using straws and other materials and learn the principles of aerodynamics.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Roto Copter
Students can experiment with a home-made helicopter that lets them change the blades to see how real aerodynamics work.
PBS
Pbs: Wgbh: Nova: The Colditz Glider: Airfoil Aerodynamics
Examine what science lies behind keeping flying machines in the air. The wings angles, shape and placement, speed and what else must be considered in the development of device?
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Up, Up and Away! Airplanes
The airplanes unit begins with a lesson on how airplanes create lift, which involves a discussion of air pressure and how wings use Bernoulli's Principle to change air pressure. Following the lessons on lift, students explore the other...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Spinning Blimps
Students create a blimp and then experiment with the design to improve its aerodynamics.
Science Struck
Science Struck: Events That Led to the Invention of the Airplane
Discover the history of the first airplanes and flying machines, and how the Wright brothers constructed their first successful airplane.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Work: Come Fly With Me
This site by the Illinois Institute of Technology lets students use a vacuum cleaner hose, ping pong balls, straws and other materials to investigate the effect of moving air upon the surfaces which it hits. Principles are applied as...
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Flying Wing
In this lesson plan students can make a flying wing and trouble-shoot until the wing glides smoothly.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Paper Airplanes
At this site students will use origami to fold a paper airplane that fly better than the classic dart airplane.