National Woman's History Museum
Breaking Through Gender Roles: The Women of NASA
Whether recognized or not, extraordinary women were integral to breaking gender barriers and putting Americans into space. For Women's History Month, explore a series of video clips and biographical information that profile these...
Mascil Project
Parachute Food Drop
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.
Teach Engineering
Equal and Opposite Thrust in Aircraft: You're a Pushover!
It's the law—every action requires a reaction, no matter how small. Pupils experience two demonstrations of Newton's third law of motion as it relates to thrust in the 10th segment of a 22-part unit on flight. Using their mathematical...
Teach Engineering
Design a Flying Machine
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...
Teach Engineering
Future Flights: Imagine Your Own Flying Machines!
What will flying look like in the future? The 21st lesson in a 22-part unit on aviation reviews the major aspects of the lesson. Pupils brainstorm ideas of a future flying machine.
Teach Engineering
Balsa Glider Competition
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...
Teach Engineering
What a Drag!
Stop and drop what is in your hand! Pupils investigate how form effects drag in the 12th part of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups create equally weighted objects and determine which one falls the fastest by collecting data.
Teach Engineering
Can You Take the Pressure?
Do not let the pressure get to you. The first lesson in a unit of 22 introduces the concept of air pressure. Using background knowledge, the resource gives teachers the information they need to discuss how people measure air pressure and...
Teach Engineering
Adapatations for Bird Flight - Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering
It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.
Curated OER
Flying Wing
Fifth graders create a flying wing from a pastry tray. In this flying wing instructional activity, 5th graders understand how the shape of the wind affects flight. Students compare the flying wing to the zanonia seed in nature. Students...
Curated OER
Airplanes and Airports: How To Take Off Without Ever Leaving the Ground
Students plan an airport visit. In this Airplanes and Airports lesson, students observe the people, activity, and machinery at airports. Then students compare the characteristics of their observations at the airport. Students make...
Curated OER
The Case for Space
In this instructional activity, students share what they know about gravity and flight, and then develop marketing strategies promoting careers in aerospace to young people. Using what they have learned, they then write recommendation...
Curated OER
Design a Paper Airplane
Students study examples of paper airplanes and then create their own paper airplane models.
Curated OER
Boomerang
Students build their own boomerang. In this physics instructional activity, students trace the origin of this equipment. They practice throwing and catching them.
Curated OER
Kites: Patang - The Indian Fighter Kite
Learners investigate the history of fighter kites and build their own. In this aeronautics lesson, students discover how other countries utilize fighter kites and where they originated. Learners create their own fighter kites in class...
Curated OER
Flying Tube
Young scholars launch flying tubes. In this aeronautics lesson, students gather the materials and follow the procedures to create a paper tube that generates lift as it travels.
Curated OER
Four-Wing Paper Boomerang
Students build a four-wing paper boomerang. In this aeronautics lesson, students construct a paper boomerang and identify the forces at work during flight.
Curated OER
Finger Boomerangs
Students construct boomerangs. In this aeronautics lesson, students use a file card, scissors, and pencil to develop their own boomerang.
Curated OER
How Things Fly
Students explain basic principles of aeronautics such as gravity and lift. In this How Things Fly lesson, students visit the interactive, hands-on How Things Fly gallery at the Smithsonian. Students perform three experiments that...
Curated OER
Milestones in the Space Program
Students brainstorm names of astronauts from NASA space missions. They are explained that the Cold War was not actually a war but pervasive tension that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union for several decades...
Curated OER
Jet Engine Magazine Project
Students create a magazine highlighting their favorite type of of jet engine.
Curated OER
Planet X
Learners select a wide variety of presentation methods to compare Planet X and Earth. Students share these with their classmates. Learners select other methods to present their ideas about a livable planet for human life forms. ...
Curated OER
Flying Wing
Students cut out and trace a Flying Wing pattern on the bottom of the foam tray. They test flight it and observe the flight of the wing.
Curated OER
Four-Wing Paper Boomerang
Learners cut out the pattern of the Four-Wing Boomerang and trace it on to one half of the file folder. They practice throwing it.