High schoolers use FoilSim to demonstrate that the graphic analysis of the airflow around one object can be used to hypothesize airflow graphs for objects as they are elongated from a sphere to an airfoil shape.

Who said teaching a STEM lesson had to be challenging? Incorporate a career and technology-centered car build into your upcoming force lesson plan, and your class will be moving down the road in no time! Pupils practice...

Fourth graders experiment with Newton's three laws of motion.  In this motion lesson, 4th graders explore the three laws of motion and then work in small groups collaborating while experimenting with these laws. Numerous resources...

Students discuss Newton's laws of motion. The conduct motion experiments by building "Newton Rocket Cars" from assorted materials. They propel the cars with rubber bands and wooden blocks and record the distance traveled on data sheets.

Students incorporate technology into the classroom as they investigate force and motion. In this science lesson, students construct a glider to be able to safely take a banana to the ground without dropping it. They investigate flight,...

Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...

Second graders study lift, drag and thrust from a real flight instructor.  In this physical science lesson students build and fly paper airplanes and experiment with variations and design. 

Students learn about the technological development of flight by organizing a presentation on the history of flight.

In this space shuttle launch instructional activity, students are given 2 equations used to determine the space shuttle's trajectory in the first 5 minutes of a launch. Students use these equations to solve 3 problems including finding...

Students they imagine they are Galileo and try to duplicate Galileo's experiments and results.

Students discuss movement of air currents and then experiment to create visible models of air currents. Students connect the model to weather patterns.

Students meet NASA researchers who describe the relationship between force, energy and motion. They discuss how NASA's experimental X-plane is being tested to make space travel more reliable and show how proportionality and ratios are...

Students are able to analyze practices that affect the use, availabiltiy, and management of natural resources. They are able to show that the forces of friction retards motion. Students investigate electricity and magnetism as...

Students build a model rocket. For this model rocket lesson, students explore a rocket launch cycle. Students investigate the laws of physics for each part of the launch. Students build model rockets and launch at school.

Students identify the parts of an airplane and determine the part(s) of an airplane that cause a specfic action.

Ninth graders calculate the average speed of their balsa wood airplane. In this physics instructional activity, 9th graders build their own airplane and make necessary modifications to to make it fly straight. They interpret distance and...

Students explain the historical significance of use of the scientific method in developing the first airplane and appreciate the process involved in developing a new technology.

Students explain and explain the interactive relationships between forces of lift and gravity, thrust and drag, as they apply to airplanes in motion. They know that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane based on these...

Students, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web site, demonstrate an understanding of the text by applying it to questions involving the Thrust to Weight Ratio and Excess Thrust of an aircraft.

Learners participate in a science experiment in which they try and move gelatin cubes with and without a lubricant. They examine the concept of friction and resistance to motion.

Young scholars explore the different types of balloons.  In this materials lesson students can complete several experiments including building their own hot air balloons, making balloon animals and experimenting with static...

Students examine the history behind the frisbee and how Bernoulli's principle and Newton's law plays a role.  In this flight lesson students complete an experiment on how the rim of a frisbee effects flight. 

Glide into the study of flight. An engaging lesson has scholars research information on the Wright brothers. They develop props and produce a recreation of the first flight at Kitty Hawk. They then report on the event as if they were...

It is plane to see that simple machines help reduce the force needed to perform a task.  This resource introduces three of the simple machines--the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and  the formulas in order to be able...