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...

Learners demonstrate the Bernoulli Principle, review the influences that affected the Wright Brothers, and make and modify paper airplanes. This amazing lesson plan has an excellent structure, and very clear plans for the students to...

Participate in the 100th anniversary of the first flight. In groups, learners use the internet to research the roles the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart played in promoting the use of flight. They use the information to write and...

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.

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...

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.

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...

Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.

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.

What would it be like to have the power of flight? Let your class's imagination fly with a photography project, which includes a narrative writing component. After planning what they want a mural on flight to look like, kids work...

Students research the Wright Brothers and their plane. In this airplane history lesson, students use a hotlist of sites to research and create an airplane. A question is provided for each site.

In this aircraft avionics worksheet, science fans read about the first unmanned air vehicle that collects data about the Earth and is subject to damage by cosmic ray showers. Pupils analyze two graphs of data showing the neutron flux vs....

Students conduct probability experiments.  In this rescue mission instructional activity, sudents play a game and collect statistical data.  They organize and interpret the data and determine the probability of success.  Students plot...

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...

Students engage in the study of flight with the help of a computer flight simulation. They take part in a variety of activities that imitate the Space Shuttle Endeavor. Students work as teams like the astronauts would to complete mission...

Discover seven of the most historic aircraft and spacecraft in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum. By research into the major milestones of aviation history your students will recognize features that enable flight,...

Her is a lesson using the Ohio State Quarter. Pupils utilize beautifully-designed worksheets embedded in the plan, to study about the origins of aviation. Many of the pioneers of aviation were born in Ohio. They compare some of the...

In this science instructional activity, 5th graders complete multiple choice questions about flight, astronomers, measurement, temperature, and more. Students complete 25 questions.

The guidelines for holding a paper airplane competition are here for you to use with junior high flight engineers. No educational explanations are included, however, so make sure to teach about forces, flight, and Bernoulli's principle...

A lengthy narrative about Pythagoras and his students precedes an activity in which your young mathematicians practice using the Pythagorean theorem to solve three problems about flight and distance. Answers are provided. 

Fourth graders research the design of the aircraft used by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. They design a sculpture of aircraft using recycled materials.

Eighth graders imagine they are getting ready to "take off." They may imagine themselves in any type of aircraft or spaceship. They may then sketch themselves as passengers anticipating this moment.

Students research the myth of Icarus and his father and discuss the associated metaphor. They view the work of a number of artists and create a painting depicting the myth.

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