Curated OER
Air Resistance and Friction
Physics learners experiment with three laboratory activities to learn about air resistance and friction. First, they use a hair dryer to move different sized spheres to determine the relationship between cross-sectional area and air...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Playing with Parachutes
This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...
Curated OER
Parachutes
Students make a parachute. In this air resistance lesson, students create a parachute using materials they think will work the best. Students try out their parachutes, noting which one worked the best. Students discuss how the size,...
Museum of Science
Parachute Design
Deploy an activity that requires deploying a parachute. An engaging lesson challenges learners to design and construct parachutes. They test out their creations and consider what changes should be made to improve the parachute's...
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
Flight of the Fruit: Weight, Gravity and Imagination
Beware the falling fruit. Scholars design and build parachutes that can help protect fruit as it falls. They test out their creations, learning about gravity, weight, air resistance, and measurement concepts along the way.
Curated OER
Blow-and-Go Parachute
Learners design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...
Curated OER
Forces and Motion
Middle schoolers build parachutes for chicken eggs. In this physics lesson, students describe the forces acting on a falling object. They predict which of the three parachute models they made has the best chance of keeping the egg intact...
Curated OER
Parachutes: What a Drag
Sixth graders make 2 different kinds of parachutes and record and graph the time for each one for the different drag forces. In this parachute lesson plan, 6th graders compare the results to the rest of the class of each parachute and...
Curated OER
Design a Parachute
Students engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion...
Curated OER
Parachutes
Students examine how parachutes work, and research and discuss the first man to envision and sketch the first parachute. They analyze air resistance, drag force, drop time, and terminal velocity.
Curated OER
Build Your Own Parachute
Students study the basics of parachuting. In this flight and aerodynamics lesson students make a simple parachute and investigate different variables that can cause potential problems.
DiscoverE
Safe Landing
Watch out below! Future engineers come up with methods to ensure that a ball in a cup stays in the cup even after dropped from a given height. It might be prudent to include some kind of shock absorber in the cup. Parachutes are a good...
Curated OER
Does Shape Affect Drag?
Students study drag and how it affects a parachute in the sky. In this parachutes lesson students build models and compare their drag.
Curated OER
How Do Things Fall?
Students observe falling objects. They discover the rate of falling is based on air resistance and not the weight of the objects. They discuss how engineers use this type of information to design aerodynamic shapes.
Curated OER
Bottle Rocket Lesson
High schoolers design a rocket that stays on air for the longest period of time. In this physics lesson, students research the function of different rocket components. They test their design and make necessary modifications.
Curated OER
Flight
Students are introduced to the four forces of flight--drag, lift, thrust, and weight--through a variety of fun-filled flight experiments. They "fly" for short periods and evaluate factors that might either increase or decrease their...
Curated OER
Forces in Action
Second graders experiment to understand how force is effected by friction. In this forces in action lesson, 2nd graders view a website to simulate what happens when the height of a ramp is changed. Students participate in an experiment...
Curated OER
The Life and Times of Guy Fawkes
In this Guy Fawkes worksheet, students cut apart 8 sentence strips; each tells an event in the life of Guy Fawkes. Students put them in the right order, paste them on a paper, and illustrate each event.
Curated OER
Look Mom, No Wings!
Students explain how drag, weight, lift and thrust work together to make something fly. For this physics lesson, students measure their jump height and record data on the table. They reason out why they can't remain airborne for long.