Curated OER
Boomerangs Keep Coming Back
Students 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 an...
Curated OER
Glide Away
Students design and construct a gliding aircraft. They use the Internet as a research tool to gain background information about specific flight principles.
Curated OER
The Case for Space
In this instructional activity, students share what they know about gravity and flight, and then develop marketing strategies promoting careers in aerospace to young people. Using what they have learned, they then write recommendation...
Curated OER
An Uplifting Experience
Fifth graders conduct flight experiments. For this uplifting experience lesson, 5th graders build an airfoil and place in a variety of conditions to observe the results of lift and force in flight, as well as angle of attack. Students...
Curated OER
Boot Reer Root Beer
Fifth graders investigate chemical reactions. In this physical science lesson, 5th graders make dry ice root beer and identify the type of change that occurs to the root beer mixture.
Curated OER
Graphing the Four Forces
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...
Curated OER
Flight Dreams - The Pressure on Parachutes
Students investigate air pressure by researching parachutes. In this physics lesson plan, students participate in three separate experiments utilizing air pressure and paper products to test theories on parachutes. Students record the...
Curated OER
Forces, Controls And Aircraft Systems
Students are introduced to the physics of flight through video and PowerPoint presentations. They construct and fly model gliders and compete for height, distance, time, etc.
Radford University
Rocket Quads
How high will it fly? Pairs build straw rockets and launch them at different angles and determine the height and horizontal distance of the flight path. Teams make conjectures about how the angle affects the measured distances and use...
Curated OER
The Effects on Flight Characteristics/Performance Due To Variations in Design of Sled Kites.
Students expand upon previous lessons with sled kites by varying the dimensions or materials while building a news sled kite while working in a team. They fly their original kites and the new ones under similar conditions to determine...
Curated OER
Mimicking Nature; Science, Aviation, Flight, Wings
Students consider the relationship between form and flight and investigate the history of man made flight and how wing shape and flexibility affects the maneuverability of an aircraft.
NASA
Rocket Wind Tunnel
Using a teacher-built wind tunnel constructed from a paper concrete tube form, a fan, and a balance, individuals determine the amount of drag their rocket design will experience in flight. Pupils make modifications to increase the...
Curated OER
Mountain Biking - Riding Downhill
Mountain bike riding, zipping up and down dirt trails, flying through the air, the smell of trees all around, the sound of birds chirping, this is idyllic! Yet it is also a lot of hard work. Balance is the key, whether going uphill,...
Curated OER
How Things Fly
Students explain basic principles of aeronautics such as gravity and lift. In this How Things Fly lesson, students visit the interactive, hands-on How Things Fly gallery at the Smithsonian. Students perform three experiments that...
Curated OER
Wingin' It
Students investigate the physics of flight by creating an airfoil. In this physics instructional activity, students create an airplane wing from copy paper, cardboard, bamboo skewers and other classroom items. Students compete with...
Radford University
Midsummer Classic’s Homerun Derby
Hit a home run with your lessons. A two-part activity has learners explore quadratic equations that model the path of a baseball. They see how changing the initial speed of the ball affects its maximum height, maximum horizontal...
Curated OER
Flight Home
Students experiment to investigate the role in fixed-wing flight. They watch as air and water flow around surfaces to examine the dynamics of airflow around an aircraft wing.
Curated OER
What’s That, I Can’t Hear You?
Students investigate forms of energy as well as light and sound. In this science lesson, students participate in hands-on activities that require them to evaluate how sound affects astronauts in flight. A video of this lesson being...
Curated OER
Birds
For this birds worksheet, students review the characteristics of birds including their adaptations for flight. Students review the diversity of bird adaptations. This worksheet has 4 short answer, 7 true or false, 6 matching, and 3 fill...
Curated OER
Soda Straw Rocket Activity
Students construct a rocket using soda straw. In this physics instructional activity, students determine the nose cone length that produces the best rocket. They explain the importance of using a control in an experiment.
Curated OER
Airplanes
Fourth graders experiment with gravity and lift by building paper airplanes. In this physics lesson plan, 4th graders compare the falling rate of a crumpled vs. flat sheet of paper. Then after class discussion and demonstration of...
Curated OER
Chemistry Basics Practice Exam
In this chemistry practice worksheet, learners solve sixteen problems including identifying chemical and physical changes, calculating numbers with significant figures, naming compounds and writing formulas and converting from one unit...
Curated OER
Measurement and Paper Airplanes
Sixth graders investigate physics by creating paper airplanes. In this flight experiment lesson, 6th graders utilize stationary tools to create elaborate paper airplanes which they fly on their school grounds. Students complete...
Curated OER
Teaching the Yoshimi Sode-Dako (Sleeve Kite)
Students explore Japanese culture through the art of kite-making. They read several selections on the importance of kites in Japanese to a Japanese holiday and the physics behind flying a kite. Then they work in amall groups to build and...