Teach Engineering
Will It Fly?
Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.
Teach Engineering
Better By Design
Which modification is the best? Using the scientific method, pairs determine the effects of each control surface on the distance of a glider's flight. The activity, section 16 in a 22-part unit on aviation, allows pupils to gain a better...
Curated OER
Build A Borneo Glider!
Students construct a paper glider. In this physics of gliding lesson, students first learn about Borneo and it's rainforest habitat. After students discover the way animals in Borneo glide from tree to tree, they use their newly acquired...
Curated OER
The Invention of the Airplane
Students explore the history of the airplane and the Wright brothers. In this aviation lesson students examine the Wright brothers stories and kites.
Curated OER
Lift and Drag: Principles of Flight and the Soaring Imagination
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...
Curated OER
Flying The Friendly Skies
Students investigate the science of flight while creating their own gliders and test them with the lift supplied by wind in the outdoors. They create a chart to make observations of the flight patterns of different gliders taking note of...
Curated OER
Make a Model of a Wright Flyer
Pupils recreate a model of the 1903 Wright Flyer out of Styrofoam. Students practice following instructions, and discover information about the Wright brothers' engine-powered glider.
Curated OER
757 Glider Kit
Students work together to complete a 757 Glider kit. They use a GPS to discover how it operates in all weather landings. They complete different obstacles with the glider as well.
Curated OER
The "Wright" Puzzle
In this airplane worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle by figuring out the answers to 12 questions about the flying machines created by the Wright Brothers.
Curated OER
Soaring With Air Power
Fourth graders view a Newton's Apple show that explores glider mechanics, explore the four forces, build and fly a glider to specific guidelines. They adjust the glider for greater accuracy and distance using four forces, and assess...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Spotlight Biography Inventors
This site provides information on American inventors Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Singer, Wilbur Wright, Thomas Alva Edison, Elias Howe, and Alexander Graham Bell. It offers pictures from and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Up, Up and Away! Airplanes
The airplanes unit begins with a lesson on how airplanes create lift, which involves a discussion of air pressure and how wings use Bernoulli's Principle to change air pressure. Following the lessons on lift, students explore the other...
Science Museum of Minnesota
Thinking Fountain: Straws: Make a Glider
Design and construct a glider that files! Compare the flights with classmates' prototypes to test the success of your design.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Better by Design
The purpose of this activity is to use a scientific method to determine the effect of control surfaces on a paper glider. The students will construct a paper airplane/glider and test its performance to determine the base characteristics...
Michigan Reach Out
Nasa Trc: Flying Wing
In this lesson plan students can make a flying wing and trouble-shoot until the wing glides smoothly.
The Henry Ford
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village: Wright Brothers
Brief history of the lives and accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Includes a chronology of major events from Wilbur's birth in 1867 to Orville's death in 1948.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Work: Come Fly With Me
This site by the Illinois Institute of Technology lets students use a vacuum cleaner hose, ping pong balls, straws and other materials to investigate the effect of moving air upon the surfaces which it hits. Principles are applied as...