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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

MAKE IT FLY

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students utilize the process of scientific inquiry and technological design to explain thrust, weight, lift and drag in flight. They design an "airplane" to test the "mechanics" of flight. In addition, they brainstorm and sketch a design...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Crash Course in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Jets in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build an...
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

Adapatations for Bird Flight - Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Physics of Flight

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wright Again: 100 Years of Flight

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

Design a Flying Machine

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lift and Drag: Principles of Flight and the Soaring Imagination

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Principles of Flight: Flying Paper Airplanes

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Learners 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.  Learners compare and contrast the two separate...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Teach Engineering

May the Force Be With You: Lift

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Flight Dreams - Flight Factors

For Teachers Pre-K - 6th
Students investigate the physics of flight by experimenting in class.  For 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....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Aspect Ratio of Wings

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Junior engineers examine aspect ration in airplane wings. Using the length and width of two differetn wings, they calculate the aspect ratios and compare drag rankings. An engineering or space science class would benefit from this...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Flight

For Teachers 6th - 12th
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...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Understanding the Four Forces of Flight

For Students 4th - 5th
In this four forces of flight worksheet, students read a 1 page article on flights, answer 5 questions with multiple choice answers, draw a line to connect the four forces to their definitions and answer 1 short answer scenario.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Physics of Flight

For Teachers 4th - 5th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boomerangs Keep Coming Back

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars investigate the flight of paper boomerangs. In this flight lesson, students examine the flight variables of paper boomerangs, which they make, by investigating the concepts of lift and drag. They examine what happens when...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bernoulli's Principle

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students explore Bernoulli's principle, how it is related to flight, and the effect of lift, thrust, and drag on flight. They design and develop an experiment that tests for distance traveled by their paper airplane, and record and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Graphing the Four Forces

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Using the Cartesian coordinate system, future flight experts plot points to determine whether or not an airplane will fly. With the four forces of weight, lift, drag, and thrust represented in different quadrants, your physics learners...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rescue Mission Game

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students conduct probability experiments.  In this rescue mission lesson, sudents play a game and collect statistical data.  They organize and interpret the data and determine the probability of success.  Students plot points on a...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Balsa Glider Competition

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Origami Flight: The Physical Setting

For Teachers 6th
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 record and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Parachutes: What a Drag

For Teachers 6th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

100 Years of Flight

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Pupils investigate Bernoulli's principle of air pressure and how it relates to the lift of an airplane. Students identify various Aeronautical vocabulary terms. Pupils construct a paper glider and experiment with the control surfaces of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Flight 2

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are introduced to two of the four principles of flight: drag and thrust. As the class watches a video on these principles, they utilize ballons, straws and clothepins to simulate what they're seeing in the show. Nice, hands-on...