Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Efficient Propeller Design
There's a lot to understand about the simple propeller to see how it affects lift and thrust in an airplane or helicopter. This Science Buddies project gives you lots of ideas on how to change the design of the propeller to achieve...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: What a Drag!
What makes some objects more streamlined than others? Find out which ordinary objects around your house are made to move smoothly through the water in this easy experiment. Which objects will produce the most drag when pulled through the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Riding on Air Build a Real Hovercraft
You will get to build a working hovercraft that will glide over surfaces on a cushion of air in this week long science project. With the use of some power tools, you will create your hovercraft, and ultimately understand how air...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Make the Wind Work for You!
Find out how a wind turbine can use the power of the wind to generate energy in this science fair engineering project. You will get to design various blades to find out which produces the most energy, and at what wind speeds they are...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: How Things Fly: Activities for Teaching Flight
Through this series of three lessons, students will gain an understanding of the basics of flight. They will learn about the four forces of flight and practice their observation skills through a number of fun experiments. In addition,...
NASA
Nasa: Aerodynamics Index
Are you studying or teaching Aerodynamics? This page acts as an index to all the terminology related to this topic. Clicking on any title will open a page with a colored slide and a scientific explanation of the contents. Animated,...
NASA
Beginners Guide to Model Rockets
This resource provides numerous links that will give teachers and students an overview of rocketry.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Interactive Experiments
Three interactives in an online exhibition about the Wright Brothers. The first is an engineering activity on the forces of flight, and is accompanied by a lesson plan for Grades 6-8. The second is a gallery of original artifacts related...
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...
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All Media: Nasa Online
Find award-winning science, math and technology videos and interactives for grades K-12 produced by NASA and provided for distribution to South Carolina ETV's Knowitall.
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Science of Everyday Life: The Everyday Science of Sports [Pdf]
A lesson plan where students learn about the physics behind golf balls. Students evaluate different designs of golf balls to understand how their design impacts their function. After their evaluation, students will try to improve the...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Sport Science
In this colorful and interactive resource, students can learn about the science behind baseball, hockey, cycling, skateboarding, and surfing.
Other
Plane Math: Activities: Go Fly a Kite
Students work in groups to build their own kite. The activity explores estimation, geometry, measurement, and patterns. The resource consists of a lesson plan, group activity instructions, lesson overview, and an expert page.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Design and Launch Bottle Rockets
If you want to discover what makes rockets fly, this is an activity for you. You can even add different features, like fins, a nose cone, and a parachute to find out how these alter the flight!
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.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Flight Simulators: From Flaps to Flying
Before pilots ever step behind the controls of a real jet they've already logged thousands of virtual air miles. It might not qualify you to fly a real jumbo jet, but you too, can learn the logistics of aviation by experimenting with the...
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Engineered Sports
Students work in teams to investigate how aerospace engineering relates to sports, especially golf ball design and the physics of bounce. They use this information to determine whether these aerospace principles can be applied to...
Other
Aviation Internet Group: Aviation Theory
Collection of articles ranging from basic to advanced on aerodynamics theory.
NASA
Nasa: Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics
A website that catalogs information and activities for how airplanes work. The concept of aerodynamics is explained in full detail.
Other
Ken Blackburn: Paper Airplanes
Information on paper airplane designs, history, and contests. Click on "Paper Airplane Aerodynamics" for an analysis of the world record holding paper airplane design.
Other
Desktop Aeronautics, Inc.: Airfoils
This chapter from an online demonstration textbook discusses airfoils. Basic concepts are explained, as well as complex equations and diagrams.
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rockets on a Shoestring Budget
In this activity, students revisit the Pop Rockets activity from Lesson 3. This time, however, the design of their pop-rockets will be limited by budgets and supplies. They will get a feel for the limitations of a real engineering...