Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...

Aspiring aeronautical engineers demonstrate different forces as they construct and test paper airplanes. This lesson plan links you to a website that models the most effective paper airplane design, an animation describing the forces...

Up, up, and away! Take your classes on a physics adventure. Learners explore the concepts important for flight. They experiment with the Bernoulli Principle while learning the forces that act on airplanes in flight.

Students discuss how the invention of flight changed the way people live today. In groups, they compare and contrast the differences between weight, lift, thrust and drag. Using these principles, they create a glider and propeller with...

Students investigate the physics of flight by experimenting in class.  In this history of flight lesson, students define terms such as gravity, lift, and drag in order to better understand how a plane is able to stay in the air....

Students study hummingbirds and how they use Newton's law.  In this motion instructional activity students complete several activities and view videos of hummingbirds. 

Young scholars will examine the physics of flight through using experimental inquiry. In this instructional activity, you'll introduce your students to the four forces of flight--drag, lift, thrust, and weight--through a variety of...

Students investigate ways to enhance an object's flying ability.  In this model construction lesson, students construct two paper airplanes, one of which is twice as big as the first.  Students compare and contrast the two...

Students explore the principles of flight. For this flight lesson, students construct a model plane and investigate the forces acting on the flier. They will measure the thrust and calculate the stored energy.

Students gain a better understanding of the technology used by ancient Chamorros.  In this physics lesson students theorize ways to forcefully throw a fist-sized object and discuss the technology behind a slingstone.

What's so amazing about birds? Find out just how amazing birds are with a physics of animal behavior unit created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Have learners explore and tap into their observational skills and notice how birds fly, what...

When going for distance, does it make a difference at what angle you launch the rocket? Teams of three launch foam rockets, varying the launch angle and determining how far they flew. After conducting the series of flights three times,...

How are raptors and airplanes alike? Combine science and language arts in this fun and interactive project. Young scientists research the animal in order to design their own aircraft, and compete in a contest for farthest, fastest, and...

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...

Young scholars explore the concept of the scientific method. In this investigative lesson, students investigate which direction the blades will spin on a gyrocopter. Student will practice using the scientific method to complete the...

Students discover how air pressure effects flight.  In this physics lesson, students create two types of airplane wings so they can observe the way air pressure creates lift.  Students utilize a printout to create the airplane...

Students construct models of early gas balloons and gliders. In this balloon and glider lesson, students create models of early gas balloons and gliders, discover how the forces of lift and drag effect aircraft in flight, and put on...

Learners investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. They construct a variety of straw-launched rockets that have different weights, observe what happens when the weight of a rocket is altered by reducing its physical size...

Students investigate the physics of flight through various experiments. In this physics lesson, students construct different flying objects. They explain the dynamics that make these object fly.

Twelfth graders examine the physics of rocket flight. They build and launch model rockets to measure their performances.

Students investigate the relationship of the steps in the water cycle, and create a simulation of the water cycle in a jar.

Sixth graders investigate the forces that move certain objects.  In this physics lesson, 6th graders design and create paper flying objects using origami methods, which they practice flying in different conditions.  Students...

Students are introduced to the physics of flight through video and PowerPoint presentations. They construct and fly model gliders and compete for height, distance, time, etc.

Ninth graders utilize Newton's Laws of Motion to explain how things move, create poster illustrating each law of motion, and present and explain their poster to classmates.