Curated OER
Wright Flight
Students explain and explain the interactive relationships between forces of lift and gravity, thrust and drag, as they apply to airplanes in motion. They know that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane based on these...
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: The Invention of the Aerial Age
Beautiful, well-done site from the Smithsonian on the Wright Brothers: Who were they and what was the importance of the era they ushered in? Their roots are traced back to the Great Migration. Classroom activities and interactive...
The Henry Ford
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village: Wright Brothers
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.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Orville & Wilbur Wright
Brief biography on Orville and Wilbur Wright. Read how the Wright brothers' work with bikes, kites, and gliders led to human flight.
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute: Flights of Inspiration
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.
Ibis Communications
Eye Witness to History: The Wright Brothers First Flight 1903
Orville Wright's account of his and his brother's first three airplane trial flights.
Scholastic
Scholastic Instructor: 100 Years of Flight
Learn more about the first "100 Years of Flight" when you explore this article. It features resources, historical background knowledge and more.
Library of Congress
Loc: Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers
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.
Read Works
Read Works: The Amazing Flying Machine
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the Wright brothers inventing the airplane and how that led to other aircraft inventions. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: The First Flyers [Pdf]
"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...
CommonLit
Common Lit: "The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers" by David White
A learning module that begins with the biography "The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers" by David White, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned...
Other
Symposium Papers: Following the Footstpes of the Wright Brothers
A compilation of symposium papers that have been presented on the Wright Brothers which includes details about their lives, invention, and historic flight.
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Art of the Stamp: Kitty Hawk (1903)
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.