The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute Online: The Challenge of Flight
Think about the challenges that faced the Wright Brothers, then see if you can design and fly your own model aircraft. There are other sources provided to help you along the way.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Spinning Blimps
Students create a blimp and then experiment with the design to improve its aerodynamics.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Paper Airplanes
At this site students will use origami to fold a paper airplane that fly better than the classic dart airplane.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Winglets in Wind Tunnels
Have you noticed the little wing projections on the wings of jets? This Science Buddies project helps you understand whether these fins help stabilize airplanes. The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an...
Other
Easy to Make Paper Airplanes
Have fun making different kinds of flying vehicles. You will learn how to make a paper airplane, helicopter, rocket, blimp, etc.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Activity: Aviation
This site from the Illinois Institute of Technology provides a student lab activity in which the flight of a paper airplane is investigated and studied. Designed for primary grades, but easily adaptable for junior high students.
A&E Television
History.com: The History of Flight: From Breakthroughs to Disasters
From hot-air balloons floating over Paris to a dirigible crashing over New Jersey, here are some of the biggest moments of aviation history. Below is a timeline of humans' obsession with flight, from da Vinci to drones. Fasten your...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Makes Airplanes Fly?
Students 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...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: How Things Fly: Activities for Teaching Flight
Through this series of three lessons, young scholars will gain an understanding of the basics of flight. They will learn about the four forces of flight and practice their observation skills through a number of fun experiments. In...
Michigan Reach Out
Reach Out!: Making Paper Airplane Gliders
Students learn the fundamentals of aerodynamics in this hands-on exercise.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The Wright Stuff
Companion website to the PBS documentary on the Wright Brothers and their contributions to aviation.
Curated OER
Aviation Internet Group: Aviation Theory
Collection of articles ranging from basic to advanced on aerodynamics theory.
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Airplanes (2 3)
This paper airplane lesson plan helps students learn about certain concepts like air resistance, motion, and aerodynamics.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Interactive Experiments
Three interactives in an online exhibition about the Wright Brothers. The first is an engineering activity on the forces of flight, and is accompanied by a lesson plan for Grades 6-8. The second is a gallery of original artifacts related...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Flight Simulators: From Flaps to Flying
Before pilots ever step behind the controls of a real jet they've already logged thousands of virtual air miles. It might not qualify you to fly a real jumbo jet, but you too, can learn the logistics of aviation by experimenting with the...
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Engineered Sports
Students work in teams to investigate how aerospace engineering relates to sports, especially golf ball design and the physics of bounce. They use this information to determine whether these aerospace principles can be applied to...
Science Struck
Science Struck: Events That Led to the Invention of the Airplane
Discover the history of the first airplanes and flying machines, and how the Wright brothers constructed their first successful airplane.
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Inventors and Inventions 2: Air and Space
After discussing important flying inventions, students explore technological design by making paper airplanes.
NASA
Nasa: Flight: What Is Drag?
Understand the concept of drag and find out how it affects the movement of airplanes.
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.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Rocking the Boat
Become an engineer for a day and discover the best way to keep from rocking the boat in this engineering science fair project. When a ship rocks back and forth, it can make people seasick, but also it makes it dangerous for jets to land...
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)
Smile: Lab Activity: Helicopter
The Illinois Institute of Technology lets students investigate the aerodynamics of a helicopter, focusing on the variables which effect the lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Students investigate the effects of aerodynamics on a wide board.
National Academy of Engineering
Greatest Achievements: Airplane
This page provides an overview of the history behind one of the greatest engineering innovations of all time:the airplane. There is also a timeline showing its development.
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.