Zoe asks Elmo why he is quacking. Elmo explains that he is pretending to be a duck. They have fun playing and pretending together.

Insects developed wings and the ability to fly earlier than any other animal—when exactly did that happen? Scientists know this fact but struggle to explain when insect wings developed and how this entirely new structure appeared. PBS...

Why so blue? As it turns out, very few things in nature only reflect blue light! A short video from a comprehensive science playlist highlights the beautiful blues of butterflies, birds, and human eyes. The narrator shows how adaptations...

Get the class up and going with a lesson that discusses how airplane wings provide lift. Pupils use their knowledge of Bernoulli's Principle to develop an explanation of how it creates lift on airplane wings.

Lift—it is about the wing's attack. Using a virtual wind tunnel, pupils investigate wing shape and angle of attack. Learners use worksheets to record their observations and to convert verbal relationships into mathematical equations in...

Keep everything under control. The lesson, the 16th segment in a 22-part unit, provides a more detailed look at the parts of a plane, specifically the control surfaces. Pupils learn about the construction of the wings and the tails and...

Do not let friction drag you down! The 11th segment in a series of 22 focuses on the fourth force acting upon an airplane—drag. Pupils learn about the effects and causes of drag.

More than 100,000 commercial flights take off every day, but how do the planes fly? Veritasium presents a video explaining the way wings work. It opens with the common misconception, then introduces two seemingly conflicting...

Being backwards isn't always bad. Scholars view a short video in the Real Engineering series to see why airplane wings are not straight and are angled backwards. The video provides a brief timeline of how airplane wings have evolved over...

How does the 1973 oil crisis relate to winglets on airplane wings? Interested pupils view a video that explains why airplane wings have winglets. It turns out that the high cost of oil made more efficient wings a necessity.

Hummingbirds consume their weight in nectar every day. The video explains their unusual flying abilities. From holding their bodies perfectly still while flapping their wings in mid air in order to get the nectar to shaking off water...

Young entomologists discover insect anatomy in a very detailed unit plan. Offering background information for teachers about various insects, class members explore the differences between bugs and insects—and yes, there are many...

High school physicists demonstrate Bernoulli's Principle by blowing on different items and finding that they do not move in the expected direction! They apply Bernoulli's equation to the flight of an airplane. This well-organized lesson...

Fly into an engineering lesson sure to get your scholars' interest off the ground. Young pupils create hoop gliders out of straws and paper hoops. Adjusting the size and number of the hoops lets them investigate the effect on flight...

Students study insects. They examine how insect wings operate and make a model airplane that mimics the way insect wings operate as the insect is flying. They compare and contrast different kinds of insect wings and color a page of...

Junior engineers examine aspect ration in airplane wings. Using the length and width of two differetn wings, they calculate the aspect ratios and compare drag rankings. An engineering or space science class would benefit from this lesson...

First graders discover how to distinguish spiders from insects by understanding the characteristics of each. They sort online picture pages into the two groups and examine the insects for common attributes. Students complete a worksheet...

Historical facts and some diagrams about the structure of a kite are given in this PowerPoint.  Interesting facts lead to the goal of individuals or groups designing and building their own kite. With this in mind, it might be useful to...

Sixth graders explore physics by utilizing their math skills. In this flight properties lesson plan, 6th graders examine the flying capabilities of planes and birds. Students utilize math to find how many wing-beats are needed to keep a...

Fourth graders explore reading strategies through roleplaying. In this reading lesson, 4th graders read Wings, Stings, and Wiggly Things by Martin Jenkins. Student groups pretend to be a law firm and identify words as their evidence to...

Students practice multiplication using factors to 5. They discuss the wings of birds and the wings of airplanes and complete activity sheet. Afterwards, they number and draw groups of airplanes.

Students listen to a story about, and visualize, fanciful dragons with wings. They create imaginative paper dragons that can fly. Students write fictional stories about the adventures of their flying dragons. They imagine if dragons...

Pupils draw a picture of their favorite insect and describe. Students make a paper art project ladybug and write a story about it. Pupils map areas where certain insects are more prevalent. Students count dots on ladybugs and record.