Curated OER
Airplanes
Fourth graders experiment with gravity and lift by building paper airplanes. In this physics lesson plan, 4th graders compare the falling rate of a crumpled vs. flat sheet of paper. Then after class discussion and demonstration of...
Curated OER
Paper Helicopters
For this helicopter activity worksheet, pupils construct a paper helicopter and learn how weight, size and shape affect the way the helicopter spins. The activity outline includes background information, trigger questions, helicopter...
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Paper Airplane Activity
Ninth graders select and build one of five different paper airplane designs and test them for distance and for time aloft. Part of this activity is designed to explore NASA developed software, FoilSim, with respect to the lift of an...
Curated OER
Fly Away With Averages
Students study mean, median, and mode. They construct paper airplanes and test them to see how far they fly. They measure the distance and then find the averages of their throws. They use spreadsheet software to record the data in a...
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Flying the Friendly Skies
Learners investigate aerodynamics by comparing and contrasting the flight of two gliders. They make prediction and observation charts and test a variety of hypotheses using paper gliders.
Curated OER
How Do Airplanes Get Off the Ground
Learners construct various types of paper airplanes, exploring action and reaction forces by conducting a paper airplane rodeo. Students then discuss how Newton's Third Law of Motion affected their planes.