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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Milestones of Flight

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners identify significant milestones in the history of flight. In this aviation history lesson plan, students study various resource materials and construct timelines of significant achievements.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stories of the Wrights' Flights

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars examine primary sources to understand the work of Wright Brothers. In this aviation history lesson, students study how primary documents and images are analyzed and write essays about the signifcance of primary soures in...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Focus Questions: Amelia Earhart

For Students 5th - 6th
In this history worksheet, students do research and find information about Amelia Earhart. Students answer 18 questions about her biographical overview, the world flight and disappearance and the search. No information is given on the...
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Unit Plan
Scholastic

Scholastic: The Flight of Amelia Earhart

For Teachers 4th - 8th
A lesson unit to help students in grades 4-8 learn about the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The interactive timeline shows advances in technology and the world as a backdrop to Amelia's life.
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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
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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Primary
Purdue University

George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers

For Students 9th - 10th
The world's largest collection of Amelia Earhart papers, memorabilia and artifacts.
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Article
State Library of North Carolina

N Cpedia: History of Transportation

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the history of transportation in North Carolina, by water, road, and air, up to the twentieth century.
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Unit Plan
NASA

Nasa: Re Living the Wright Way

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the many inventions credited to Orville and Wilbur Wright! Lesson plans, activities, simulations, individual biographies, and links to related sites are all included in this expansive site from NASA.
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Website
Other

Museum of Women Pilots: Museum of Women Pilots

For Students 9th - 10th
The '99s Museum of Women Pilots' brings to life those women pilots who made a place for themselves in aviation history. Click on 'Navigation' and view the topics in the drop menu. The new museum serves as the repository for a collection...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

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

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Women in Aviation and Space History

For Students 9th - 10th
Find information on the many women who became well known for their part in aviation history. Click on one of the drop down menus on the left to find a name, then click on the name to see a short description of the woman and her...
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Website
Virtual Museum of Canada

Virtual Museum of Canada: Community Stories: Botwood Heritage Centre: Botwood: History of an Airport

For Students 9th - 10th
This small town in Newfoundland has played a major role in Canada's aviation history. View historic footage of early planes and read of their feats.
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Activity
Other

Spirit of St. Louis

For Students 9th - 10th
Site offers "general dimensions, specifications, weight characteristics, and man hours required to build the aircraft." Also gives individual thumbnail images "of the technical preparation of the airplane."
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Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Burt Rutan

For Students 9th - 10th
A biography of Burt Rutan, an aircraft designer who created a plane that overcame one of flight's last great challenges - circling the world without stopping or refueling. Describes the many aircraft he designed.
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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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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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Handout
PBS

Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Wilbur and Orville Wright

For Students 9th - 10th
Two self-taught Midwestern brothers broke the barrier of the air, succeeding where others with government grants and engineering degrees had failed, and shaping the course of the twentieth century.
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Website
Other

Chuck Yeager

For Students 9th - 10th
"The fastest man alive," "The guy with the right stuff," "Mr. Supersonic," read about this true American on his own personal website. Filled with fact filled information.
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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.
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Website
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.
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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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Website
Royal British Colombia Museum (Canada)

First in the Air in British Columbia

For Students 9th - 10th
The Royal British Columbia Museum traces the achievements of BC's first men to travel into the colony's atmosphere in the air. The site discusses the hot air balloon flight of Professor Leclaire in 1880 and the flight of Charles K....