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Handout
Science Museum, London

Science Museum Online Stuff: The First Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
An excellent article about how Orville and Wilbur Wright's interest in flight developed and led to the first airplane flight.
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Website
The Henry Ford

Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village: Wright Brothers

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical information on the Wright Brothers, including their childhoods, the Wright Cycle Shop, the world's first airplane, a chronology, and links to more information.
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Website
PBS

Pbs Nova: Pilot the Wright Brothers' Flyer

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this interactive, find out how the Wright brothers' design of the first flyer provided lift and speed, and allowed the pilot to make adjustments in response to changes in wind speed and direction.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Invention of the Aerial Age

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical details about the Ohio-born Wright brothers, who ushered in the aerial age with their invention of the first powered airplane.
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Handout
Mocomi & Anibrain Digital Technologies

Mocomi: The Wright Brothers Biography

For Students 2nd - 8th
Interesting biographical information and fun facts about the Wright brothers' first flight.
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Website
Other

Open University: First Flight: The Wright Brothers

For Students 9th - 10th
A look at what the Wright Brothers accomplished. Includes information on the scientific experiments that they conducted, and the 1903 flyer they built to protect themselves from injury as they both learned how to fly.
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Website
The Franklin Institute

Franklin Institute: Flights of Inspiration

For Students 9th - 10th
Franklin Institute site showcases the first flight taken by the Wright brothers. Follows the Wright brothers plan to achieve first flight as they used their failures to win them success in aviation.
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers

For Students 9th - 10th
Over 49,000 digitized primary documents having to do with the Wright brothers and their work with flight. A timeline of the brothers' work, a family tree, and other special presentations are offered.
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Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Learning Lab: Stories of the Wrights' Flights

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson plan has students read primary materials from the Smithsonian collection written by the Wright brothers, and compare and contrast them to secondary sources, such as newspaper stories from the next day. There is background...
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Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: American Historama: Wright Brothers Facts

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn numerous fun facts about the first powered airplane flight by the Wright Brothers and the Birth of Aviation.
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Website
The Franklin Institute

Franklin Institute and Science Museum: First Flight

For Students 3rd - 8th
Experience the first flight, through words, pictures, and actual quotes from the Wright Brothers about their real life experiences prior to, during, and after the successful flight.
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: What Makes Airplanes Fly?

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Learners begin to explore the idea of a force. To further their understanding of drag, gravity and weight, they conduct activities that model the behavior of parachutes and helicopters. An associated literacy activity engages the class...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: You Are There, First Flight

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students learn about archives and primary sources as they research original historical documents. While preparing an imaginative first-person account as if witnessing an historical event, they learn to appreciate the value of the...
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Handout
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Inventor of the Week: Orville & Wilbur Wright

For Students 9th - 10th
This article briefly summarizes the Wright Brothers' scientific curiosity and ambitions which fueled their desire to create the first flying machine.
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Professional Doc
Scholastic

Scholastic Instructor: 100 Years of Flight

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learn more about the first "100 Years of Flight" when you explore this article. It features resources, historical background knowledge and more.
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Article
Famous Scientists

Famous Scientists: Wilbur and Orville Wright

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the Dayton, Ohio brothers who are credited with inventing and flying the world's first successful airplane.
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Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The First Flyers [Pdf]

For Teachers 1st - 3rd Standards
"The First Flyers" is a one page, nonfiction, reading passage about the Wright brothers and their obsession with flying. It is followed by questions which require students to provide evidence from the story; it includes: determining main...
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Graphic
Smithsonian Institution

National Postal Museum: Art of the Stamp: Kitty Hawk (1903)

For Students 9th - 10th
View the artwork for a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1998 to commemorate the Wright Brothers first flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Includes a detailed paragraph about the famous flight.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: The Dream of Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The library uses "some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this aviation history exhibit. Be...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: The Dream of Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress has opened its vast resources and created an exhibition commemorating the centennial of flight. The Library uses "Some of its rarest and most significant materials," to present this beautiful website. Be sure to...
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Website
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: The Wright Stuff

For Students 9th - 10th
Companion website to the PBS documentary on the Wright Brothers and their contributions to aviation.
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Activity
NASA

Nasa Quest: "Wright Ing" Prompt: Concrete Poetry

For Students 9th - 10th
At this site from NASA Quest you can learn to write concrete poetry by using the Wright Brother's airplane as a prompt. What a great way to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the first flight!
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Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms

For Students 9th - 10th
Features 100 aircraft, airfields, research labs, military installations, battle sites, launch facilities, and other places that tell about people and events that made the U.S. a world leader in aviation. Highlights of this travel...
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Activity
University of Chicago

Flights Before the Wrights: Octave Chanute, Chicago

For Students 9th - 10th
A site that chronicles the life of Octave Chanute, an aeronautical engineer involved in flight before the Wright brothers.