Curated OER
Straw Rockets in Flight! Engineer's Delight
Sixth graders study air compression and how it can power a rocket. In this creative lesson students work with a partner and build a rocket then compare air compressions and graph their results.
DiscoverE
Hoop Glider
Fly into an engineering lesson sure to get your scholars' interest off the ground. Young pupils create hoop gliders out of straws and paper hoops. Adjusting the size and number of the hoops lets them investigate the effect on flight...
Curated OER
Aerodynamic drag
Learners construct a device that can launch spinning balls. One example would be a mailing tube with one side partially cut away, lined with sandpaper. Styrofoam balls should be used for the greatest effet. They are explained how a...
Cornell University
Physics of Flight
Up, up, and away! Take your classes on a physics adventure. Learners explore the concepts important for flight. They experiment with the Bernoulli Principle while learning the forces that act on airplanes in flight.
Curated OER
Harnessing Wind
Students explore the ways that engineers study and harness the wind. They study the different kinds of winds and how to measure wind direction. In addition, students learn how air pressure creates winds and how engineers build and test...
Henry Ford Museum
Physics, Technology and Engineering in Automobile Racing
Start your engines! This five-lesson unit introduces physics and Newton's laws through automobile racing. Each lesson includes background information, a student worksheet, and an answer key. There are also culminating project...
Curated OER
Wind Tunnel Aerodynamics Problem Set
Students, after reading an explanation from a NASA Web-based textbook, demonstrate an understanding of the text by applying it to the calculation of area, velocity, and pressure in a wind tunnel.
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...
Curated OER
The Baseball and Air
Students use Curveball to complete the activity to determine how the speed of airstreams changes in relation to changes in the distance of the airstream from the center of the baseball.
Curated OER
Wind Tunnel
Students examine how wind tunnels are used for research and development. In this aerodynamics lesson students are given instructions on how to develop different types of wind tunnel.
Curated OER
Build Your Own Parachute
Students study the basics of parachuting. In this flight and aerodynamics lesson students make a simple parachute and investigate different variables that can cause potential problems.
Curated OER
Pitch, Yaw & Roll
Students practice the concepts of pitch, yaw and roll. They practice pitch, yaw, roll in a make-believe airplane simulator. Students explore about air, forces, and movement of flight. They read for themselves about air; lift, dragweight,...
Curated OER
How Do Things Fall?
Students observe falling objects. They discover the rate of falling is based on air resistance and not the weight of the objects. They discuss how engineers use this type of information to design aerodynamic shapes.
Curated OER
Did You Catch My Drift?
Pupils, through the use of the Curveball interactive software package, become familiar with the way in which the flow of air across or around an object affects its ability to lift, spin, and curve. After reading the explanation given...
Curated OER
#22c Airplane flight #22d Airplane flight--How High? How Fast?
High schoolers discuss the application of frames of reference to an airplane flying with a constant velocity v through the air.
NASA
The X-1 Paper Glider Kit
After reading an interesting account of how the X-1 aircraft was designed, built, and utilized, young engineers try their hand at constructing a paper glider version of the airplane. They cut out the plane out of a nicely designed...
Curated OER
Design a Bobsled
Learners apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass and gravity as they design, build, and test mini-bobsleds.
Smithsonian Institution
Korean War
North and South Korea: two regions divided. The story of the Korean War describes the events that occurred when these two regions' ideologies clashed. The resource uses various images and descriptions of artifacts, in addition to...
Curated OER
What Makes Airplanes Fly?
Learners examine force and conduct activities that model parachutes and helicopters. In this airplanes lesson students identify the forces that make airplanes fly higher and land.
Curated OER
Aerospace Engineering
Students are introduced to aviation history and aerospace engineering achievements. They assemble a class aviation history timeline from individual student research on people and events.
Curated OER
Reading: An Amazing Swimsuit
In this inventions worksheet, students read a one page text about the new type of swimsuit used in the 2008 Beijing Olympics called the Speedo LZR Racer. Students answer 10 true or false questions about the passage.
Curated OER
Understanding the Four Forces of Flight
In this four forces of flight worksheet, learners read a 1 page article on flights, answer 5 questions with multiple choice answers, draw a line to connect the four forces to their definitions and answer 1 short answer scenario.
Curated OER
Parachutes: What a Drag
Sixth graders make 2 different kinds of parachutes and record and graph the time for each one for the different drag forces. In this parachute lesson plan, 6th graders compare the results to the rest of the class of each parachute and...
Curated OER
Model Rockets
Students build a model rocket. In this model rocket lesson, students explore a rocket launch cycle. Students investigate the laws of physics for each part of the launch. Students build model rockets and launch at school.