50 ideas to teach about flight & aviation Follow FizzicsEd Articles: Comments 1 Teaching students about flight brings a huge variety of options! From engineering to biology, below are 50 lesson ideas on flight & aviation which will help form a vibrant teaching sequence that kids will love! How do bird wings actually work? Flight videos deconstructed Create a timeline of the milestones of mechanical flight. Which 4 forces are involved in flight? Draw different things that fly and show where the forces are acting. Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the balloon blow apart activity Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the ping pong ball activity Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using vortex fog rings Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the impossible puff activity Teach about high vs. low air pressure & it’s impact on flight Learn about the types of feathers on birds wings & why they are different. Find out how jet engines work. Research and write a biography of early flight pioneers. Make an O-wing aircraft Use the Flightradar24 app to learn more about the planes that overhead & track their movements. Make a wind tunnel for testing your plane designs Make a remote-controlled plane Make a rubber-band powered plane Create and fly a kite. Create a film canister rocket. Make a tea bag rocket. Launch a water rocket Visit a museum with different planes on display. How are shark fins similar to plane wings? How do F1 cars use Bernoulli’s principle to stay on the ground? How do insects fly? Make a model of Wright brothers plane. Which birds have the fastest beating wings? Which birds are the fastest flyers? How do hot air balloons work? Create a parachute for an egg or water balloon to survive a fall. Use a flight simulator app on your computer or tablet. Have a paper plane building competition (this paper plane kit has 20 designs to get you started). Make a flipbook animation of something flying. Flip Anim is a handy tool for this. Map the distances and lengths of time for commercial flights from where you live. Learn about bird migration paths. Find out how birds use magnetism to navigate. Learn how bees communicate about flight paths between the hive and a food source. Create a computer game using Scratch that involves the character flying between places. Watch the movie Paper planes (2014) How can radar detect flying planes? Learn about the variety of aviation careers on offer. Use these airport and aircraft role-playing resources by Rolls Royce List the places that students have travelled to. Students could create a passport for their travels. Use these teaching ideas for drones Create a list of mammals that can fly or glide. Learn about stall angles & turbulence and this is overcome. Create a poster of world flight records Organise a live chat with a pilot with Nepris Learn about aircraft communications Learn about the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Debate the future of flight; the possibilities and the dangers. Discuss flight in mythology. Watch TED talks on flight & discuss the content Happy teaching, Ben Newsome Love Science? Subscribe! Join our newsletter Receive more lesson plans and fun science ideas. PROGRAMS COURSES SHOP SCIENCE PARTIES Calendar of Events HIGH SCHOOL Science@Home 4-Week Membership 12PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024 12PM - 12PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! PRIMARY Science@Home 4-Week Membership 2PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 22, 2024 2PM - 2PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 PM Jan 18, 2024 2PM - 3PM Price: $50 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 AM Jan 18, 2024 9AM - 11AM Price: $50 Book Now! 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Teaching students about flight brings a huge variety of options! From engineering to biology, below are 50 lesson ideas on flight & aviation which will help form a vibrant teaching sequence that kids will love! How do bird wings actually work? Flight videos deconstructed Create a timeline of the milestones of mechanical flight. Which 4 forces are involved in flight? Draw different things that fly and show where the forces are acting. Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the balloon blow apart activity Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the ping pong ball activity Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using vortex fog rings Learn how Bernoulli’s principle explains flight using the impossible puff activity Teach about high vs. low air pressure & it’s impact on flight Learn about the types of feathers on birds wings & why they are different. Find out how jet engines work. Research and write a biography of early flight pioneers. Make an O-wing aircraft Use the Flightradar24 app to learn more about the planes that overhead & track their movements. Make a wind tunnel for testing your plane designs Make a remote-controlled plane Make a rubber-band powered plane Create and fly a kite. Create a film canister rocket. Make a tea bag rocket. Launch a water rocket Visit a museum with different planes on display. How are shark fins similar to plane wings? How do F1 cars use Bernoulli’s principle to stay on the ground? How do insects fly? Make a model of Wright brothers plane. Which birds have the fastest beating wings? Which birds are the fastest flyers? How do hot air balloons work? Create a parachute for an egg or water balloon to survive a fall. Use a flight simulator app on your computer or tablet. Have a paper plane building competition (this paper plane kit has 20 designs to get you started). Make a flipbook animation of something flying. Flip Anim is a handy tool for this. Map the distances and lengths of time for commercial flights from where you live. Learn about bird migration paths. Find out how birds use magnetism to navigate. Learn how bees communicate about flight paths between the hive and a food source. Create a computer game using Scratch that involves the character flying between places. Watch the movie Paper planes (2014) How can radar detect flying planes? Learn about the variety of aviation careers on offer. Use these airport and aircraft role-playing resources by Rolls Royce List the places that students have travelled to. Students could create a passport for their travels. Use these teaching ideas for drones Create a list of mammals that can fly or glide. Learn about stall angles & turbulence and this is overcome. Create a poster of world flight records Organise a live chat with a pilot with Nepris Learn about aircraft communications Learn about the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia Debate the future of flight; the possibilities and the dangers. Discuss flight in mythology. Watch TED talks on flight & discuss the content Happy teaching, Ben Newsome
I’m just wondering why parachutes not issued on flights?? People sky dive for sport- Give a class before booked flights and when it’s safer to jump out seems better to me than just waiting for disaster! Not sure of the physics behind it but hopefully someone besides me have thought of this. I would feel safer flying if this was figured out! Reply
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