Students examine the different types of wind patterns. Using common materials, they construct weather vanes to measure and record wind direction over a two-week period. After analyzing the data, they draw conclusions about the...

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,...

Young scholars 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...

Students explore physics by creating data graphs in class. In this flight properties lesson, students read the book Flying Machine and identify the force, resistance and construction necessary to keep a glider in the air. Students...

Pupils complete a set of CD-ROM's to introduce them to the flight program at NASA. In groups, they research a topic related to flight and put their information on a CD-ROM. To end the lesson plan, they share their material with other...

Students see that understanding how sound is produced makes it possible for us to manipulate it so we can decrease the number of unpleasant sounds we encounter. They make a drum to explore the concepts of force, pitch and volume.

Students explore the science of sound. In this sound lesson, students craft drums from various materials and respond to questions regarding pitch, force, and volume.

Students discover the properties of matter and how they change when composite materials are produced.  In this informative lesson students write up a question and procedure to an experiment then analyze and draw conclusions based on...

Young scholars 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...

Pupils examine how technology affected the Great Depression era. They view a video, conduct Internet research, and write articles for a class technology magazine.

Learners will experiment with different styles of paper airplanes, create questions to test, and design experiments that will allow them to gather data related to their question. They will record their data, using graphs where...

This lesson introduces learners to the art of designing an airplane through paper airplane constructions. The goal is that students will learn important aircraft design considerations and how engineers must iterate their designs to...

In this fun lesson, you will be the "customer" ordering a paper airplane, and your student teams will be engineering companies that will manufacture planes. Before they start making planes, they need to define the criteria and...

This is a culmination activity used after students have studied Bernoulli's Principle as part of a unit on forces and fluids. Students will use the Internet, textbooks, library resources and their cooperative learning group to design...

This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a student lab activity in which the flight of a paper airplane is investigated and studied. Designed for primary grades, but easily adaptable for junior high students.

After discussing important flying inventions, students explore technological design by making paper airplanes.