Students in the K-8 program will be participating in a Science unit on Flight this month. Students will study the history of aviation and the various ways humans have achieved flight. Students will be working on multiple projects and research as we complete this unit.
Challenge One: The Paper Airplane (A lesson on aerodynamics)
This introduction activity teaches our students the art of designing an airplane through paper airplane constructions. The goal is that students will learn important aircraft design considerations and how engineers must iterate their designs to achieve success. Students first follow several basic paper airplane models, after which they will then design their own paper airplane. They will also learn how engineers make models to test ideas and designs. The process of iterative design helps an engineer learn from the mistakes of early designs. When designing an airplane, engineers often build small-scale models of the airplane to test how it will fly without building a large and expensive full-size aircraft. And, they experiment with many different designs to find the best one!
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Design at least three different paper airplanes.
- Modify one of their designed airplanes in an attempt to improve its flight.
- Become familiar with parts of a paper airplane and how they relate to parts on a real airplane.
1. Distance Flown
2. Ability to do a trick (loops, fly throw hoop etc)
3. Overall Design
Science, Technology, and Math Standards:
•Physical Science Standard: Motions and forces.
•Geometry Standard: Analyze characteristics and properties of
two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes and develop mathematical arguments
about geometric relationships.
•Measurement Standard: Apply appropriate techniques, tools,
and formulas to determine measurements. Choose an appropriate unit and measure
lengths and widths to a specified degree of precision in customary measurement
Vocabulary/Definitions
| Aerodynamics: | The study of the affects of bodies moving relative to gases, especially the interaction of moving objects with the atmosphere. |
| Aileron: | Either of two movable flaps on the wings of an airplane that can be used to control the plane's rolling and banking movements. |
| Drag: | The retarding (slowing down) force exerted on a moving body by a fluid medium such as air or water. |
| Elevators: | A movable control surface, usually attached to the horizontal stabilizer of an aircraft that is used to produce nose-up or nose-down motion (pitch). |
| Glider: | A light engineless aircraft designed to glide after being towed aloft or launched from a high location such as a building or mountain. |
| Launch: | To set or thrust a craft or projectile into motion. |
| Lift: | Force available for overcoming the force of gravity. |
| Nose: | The nose of an aircraft is the structure at the very front of the aircraft that is shaped in such a way as to reduce drag. The nose is usually shaped like a cone or a dome. |
| Rudder: | A vertically hinged plate of metal, fiberglass, or wood mounted at the tail of an aircraft, used for effecting horizontal changes in course. |
| Stability: | Stability is the ability of an object, such as a ship or aircraft, to maintain equilibrium or resume its original, upright position after being displaced from its original course. |
| Streamlined: | Designed or arranged to offer the least resistance to airflow. |
| Thrust: | The forward-directed force developed in a propeller, jet, or rocket engine as a reaction to the high-velocity rearward ejection of air or exhaust gases. |
| Weight: | A measure of the heaviness of an object. |
This is the one time, it's ok to fly a paper airplane in school!
Some Paper Airplane Design Websites
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