Your team has been selected to test paper airplanes that fly the farthest. You will be left with 2 remaining choices of planes to decide on, and must make decisions based only on them. Each member of the team will test fly each plane at least 3 times and keep track of findings based on constraints (see below under “Constraints”)

The following are teacher suggestions:

Students are expected to do the following;

• Pick an average rate of velocity from the results of 4 class test flights for the same paper airplane.

• Graph the velocity ratio recorded for each type of airplane from the class, Correctly label both axes.

• Explain in written and oral form what your graph shows, including how math was used.

• Write a d = rt problem involving your chosen paper airplane and another paper airplane including: the planes leave from the same point in opposite directions at the same time. How do you determine when they would be 50 feet apart from each other?

Students are graded based on:

• The presentation — is it clear, interesting, followed directions?

• You organized your work clearly, accurately, and presented understandably

• Your conclusion: is accurate, calculations are correct, terminology used correctly, and you explain how math fits into the project

• You only have class time to build and test your planes.

• You can only use the materials provided.

• You will fly each plane at least 3 times and record the farthest distance it travels, and the best time after it lands on the ground, plus all conditions that pertain to affecting its flight.

• Each group member must participate in this proccess.

• Teams will provide a report and a written final analysis.

Besides a report, each team will also answer the following on a separate piece of paper:

• What is the same and different about the two types of planes your team worked on?

• Which plane did you predict would fly further and why?

• Which plane actually flew further and why?

• Which plane took the longest time?

• How could you hae altered your plane to make it perform better? What could you do, and why?

• In what ways was math helpful?

• Students will understand the basic concepts and principals of flight

• Students will understand the basics of experiment and demonstration stages

• Students will understand the concepts of Bernoulili’s Principal and Newton’s Laws as they pertain to flight.

• Students will be able to apply their knowledge of forces/pressure differences through the design of a functional flying machine

Students will be able to show the following :

• Forces have both direction and magnitude

• When forces are balanced, motion does not change

• Greater the mass, greater the force

• Evaluating accuracy and reproducibility of data

• Distinguish between controlled and variable parameters

• Construction of graphs from data and development of quantitative statements (measurement, scale, units, calculations, graphs, and modellng

Checking for pre-concept knowledge: flight, air pressure, Bernoulli’s principles: (modify to suit your teaching needs):

• How does an airplane take off, fly, and land?

• How does a frisbee fly through the air?

• How does a boomerang come back?

• How does a bird fly?

• How does the sail on a sailboat work to propel a boat through the water?

"IFO” — Identified Flying Object.

Challenge: using a single sheet of card stock/typing paper, create an IFO —- Only scissors may be used in the creation of your IFO. NOTE: This is an individual design challenge…. pulling forth any misconceptions students may have about why things fly…. Students are then asked to write about why or how their IFO flew. (NOTE: you might receive a lot of “traditional” paper planes — if so, do not discourage at this point. It is the student’s explanation of their flight that is the key….)

• Preconception Page: Have students write the answers to pointed questions that address their aspects of flight.

• Preliminary Flight Model Challenge: (note: uses same scenario as the final Design Challenge).. ———→ You have been cut off from civilization by the collapse of the only land bridge between you and the rest of the world. There is a bottomless chasm separating you from the other side, and you need to somehow deliver a payload (cargo) intact across this chasm without damaging the cargo. It i considered too far to catapult or to launch the cargo across. So the only way to get the cargo across the chasm is to somehow “fly” it across.

Constraints:

• You have 2 class periods to design, build, and test your preliminary model.

• The chasm is a minimum of 2 meters wide, and the target area for flight is one hula hoop (either held up or suspended vertically) one meter off the ground.

• You can only use the allowed materials.

• You may use the tools provided but may not integrate them into your design …

• Each student must participate in.the design, construction, and performance of the flying object.

• You will be allowed to perfect and revise your design as you work on it.