High-Flying Adventures: Discovering the Science of Flight!

Today, our team introduced the four primary factors involved in flight-thrust, drag, lift, and gravity-through three hands-on activities. Students first created a traditional paper airplane while following along with a demo and tested their aircrafts. Then, they created a more advanced, aerodynamically favorable glider with two hoops and a straw. As they flew the new airplanes, they all found that the results were much better in terms of speed and distance. Lastly, all of the students created paper rockets which they were able to launch by blowing into connected straws! After explaining the concepts in depth, a quick pop quiz followed.