TeachersFirst's Man Soars Into Flight - Resources
On December 17, 1903, Wilbur Wright stretched out across the lower wing of the flying machine that he and his brother, Orville, had built and gently eased the machine into the world's first successful powered flight. The craft flew about 120 feet before settling back down into the sand of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Later that day, the Wrights made three additional flights; the last and longest covered more than 850 feet in just under one minute.
The Wrights may have succeeded where others had failed because they brought a unique combination of talents to their task. They were meticulous in their work, and they did not hesitate to develop their own theories and solutions, especially when commonly held assumptions about the physics of flight got in their way.
Since the Centennial of the Wrights' first flight in 2003, a bumper crop of web sites has appeared, devoted to the history of these creative inventors and to flight and aviation in general. These reviewed resources provide a great introduction to the Wright Brothers' achievements and to the principles and major figures involved with flight.
Include manned flight within a unit on inventors and inventions or with study of the late 19th and early 20th century in American History at any level. The Wright Brothers and other figures in flight can be part of a unit on famous scientists and their discoveries. Inspire inventiveness in your own students by having them create their own projects telling the story of flight using one of the reviewed digital storytelling tools from the TeachersFirst Edge: something as simple as a comic strip or as elaborate as a multimedia presentation.
Happy flying!
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The First Women to Design and Build Aeroplanes:Lillian E. Bland and E. Lillian Todd - Gillian Saunders-Smits
Grades
4 to 12
tag(s): aviation (38), engineering (125), STEM (274), women (140), womenchangemaker (28)
In the Classroom
Include this article with your other resources when teaching about women changemakers, life in the early 1900s, or technological changes. As an additional resource, add the picture book about the life of E. Lillian Todd, Wood, Wire, and Wings by Kirsten W. Larsen, to your class library or watch the YouTube video discussion of the book here. Organize and share resources with students using Symbaloo, reviewed here or Padlet, reviewed here. Use MyLens, reviewed here to create a timeline of women's contributions to airline design. MyLens uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate timelines based on your prompt; start with a prompt such as "women airplane designers" to produce a timeline featuring other trailblazing women in airplane design. Extend learning by asking students to design and share a presentation about women changemakers by creating videos using Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here or with Google My Maps, reviewed here to tell the story of women changemakers worldwide.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Fly Girls - American Experience PBS
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), primary sources (118), women (140), womenchangemaker (28), world war 2 (156)
In the Classroom
Include the information on this site with your resources for you and your students to use when studying about World War II or women changemakers. Consider using Milanote, reviewed here to collaborate and share ideas using visual note boards. Add images, notes, and web links when brainstorming ideas and gathering information. Extend learning by asking students to create blogs using edublogs, reviewed here that shares what it was like to live the life of a Fly Girl based upon information gathered from this site and others. Blogs might include short journal entries, images, letters to loved ones at home, and video diaries.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Geo-fs Flight Simulator - GeoFS
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): aviation (38), virtual field trips (88)
In the Classroom
There are various uses for this flight simulator, from a simple flight for exploring the land below to learning more advanced aviation skills. Your students can experience different parts of the world using the Geo-fs flight simulator. Use this site to learn the geography of a region or study various landscapes. Teachers can create a virtual field or lit trips by making a flight plan for their students to follow. Create a challenge or virtual race for your students to complete; the possibilities are endless!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Amelia Earhart - History.com
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): 1900s (74), aviation (38), careers (140), flight (31), transformations (12), women (140)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students when learning about famous women, aviation pioneers, or important events from the 1900s. Share your resources using Symbaloo, reviewed here, and organize information on your Symbaloo by color. For example, add biographies as one color and important events as another. Enhance learning by creating an interactive map together with your students using Google My Maps, reviewed here, to follow Earhart's travels around the world along with other famous aviators. Add stops to your map that share the story of events in the location, including images and links to additional information. As a final project, ask students or student groups to create an interactive timeline of Amelia Earhart's life using one of the timeline creation tools located here. A good suggestion is Timeline Infographic Templates.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Women with Altitude - NetFlights
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), biographies (95), flight (31), pioneers (9), women (140)
In the Classroom
Share this timeline when studying pioneers in different fields or include in Women's History Month lessons. Each entry provides a short introduction to the featured woman. Challenge students to use the entry as a starting point to research the aviator more fully. Have students save their resources using a bookmarking tool like Papaly, reviewed here, and include a link to their resources with the final project. Papaly allows you to collaborate and add notes to bookmarks making this a useful tool for use with group projects. Replace paper and pen timelines by asking students to create their own timelines exploring the life of a famous pioneer using Turbo Timeline Generator, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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STEM in 30 - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Grades
5 to 10tag(s): aviation (38), earth (186), earth day (60), ecology (101), ecosystems (73), flight (31), mars (27), molecules (44), space (216), STEM (274), world war 1 (78)
In the Classroom
For your blended or flipped classroom, share webinars on your class website for students to view at home. Replace pen and paper writing journals by writeing a blog entry that shares their learning and understanding. Use a tool like Telegra.ph, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. If you are teaching younger students and looking for an easy way to integrate technology and check for understanding, challenge your students to create a blog using edublog, reviewed here. Check the site's homepage for upcoming webinars, then participate with your class. Check X (formerly Twitter) to see if your class can follow any of the presenting scientists. If you are lucky enough to live in the Washington, DC area, contact the museum to attend a live taping. After viewing a webinar, have students enhance their learning by creating a multimedia presentation using Visme, reviewed here. Visme allows you to narrate slides. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. STEM in 30 is also a great resource for gifted students to get involved with their own challenges and pursuits.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wright Brothers - Who Were Wilbur & Orville? - Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
Grades
K to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
What a perfect addition to a lesson about the Wright brothers or a science unit about aviation (physics and more)! Have students work in cooperative learning groups and research a specific topic found at this site. Enhance learning by having students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about one of the Wright brothers or as a spectator viewing one of the first flying machines. Be sure to take advantage of the free experiments and activities available on the site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Flying Classroom - Flying Classroom
Grades
K to 9tag(s): aircraft (16), animals (285), architecture (63), ecosystems (73), endangered species (27), flight (31), oceans (149), STEM (274), volcanoes (56), weather (160)
In the Classroom
Incorporate this expedition into your units on continents, exploration and explorers (to compare modern exploration with historic expeditions), or science units on flight, energy and more. See the Blog for specific scientific explorations your students can read in groups or as a class. Include this resource in a unit on scientists and what they do. Include some of the readings as informational texts that will generate high student interest. This is a great resource for your gifted students in a regular classroom to extend curriculum and share what they have learned with classmates. For more background for teachers, see the Executive Summary under "About." Have students use a class account to create maps using MapHub, reviewed here. Students can add icons, URLs, text, images, and location stops! Middle school students can use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about any of the people on Captain Barrington's journey.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Flight and Things that Fly - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): aeronautics (10), animals (285), aviation (38), book lists (163), flight (31), STEM (274), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Have students choose a book they can connect to concepts you are studying in science class or have them choose a book of interest and generate a list of questions they would like to investigate further. Share this list with students during your study of the physics of flight and aerodynamics. Include it during study of sophisticated engineering design or of basic concepts such as gravity and air flow. As you study animal adaptations and the differences among species, look closely at how birds fly and how man-made flying machines mimic some of their capabilities. The non-fiction selections offer possible informational texts to practice Common Core science literacy skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Re-Living the Wright Way - Tom Benson - NASA
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), gravity (42), inventors and inventions (75), motion (50), newton (21), scientists (63), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
This site provides teachers with resources on the topics of Newton's Laws of Motion, The Four Forces of Flight, Lift, Drag, Thrust, Weight, Center of Gravity, Roll, and Pitch. View the videos using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Download the simulations to your classroom computers and have students work in groups to solve them. Have students work cooperatively to complete one of the many activities found on the site like building a model airplane. Students can then conduct an investigation to see whose plane can fly the farthest.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Amelia Earhart - The Official Website - Family of Amelia Earhart
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): aviation (38), careers (140), famous people (20), flight (31), women (140)
In the Classroom
Share this site with students when researching famous Americans, women, flight, or careers. Enhance learning by having students use a mapping tool such as Google Earth, reviewed here, to create an audio (and visual) tour of Amelia Earhart's journeys. Her story could also offer a powerful writing prompt for an essay about people who take on formidable challenges/adventures. Substitute a blog tool such as edublog, reviewed here, for paper and pen.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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How Things Fly - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): aircraft (16), aviation (38), flight (31), space (216)
In the Classroom
Choose a type of flight to have students study and assign that part of the website as a web search with a question sheet. Or have students create their own journey by picking a learning path using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here, and then enhance learning by having students explain what they learn as they go through the activity in writing. Before writing, have students organize their thoughts about what they learn with a tool such as bubbl.us, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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What is Lift? - NASA
Grades
6 to 10tag(s): aeronautics (10), aircraft (16), flight (31), gravity (42), nasa (30), newton (21), vectors (16), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Show students the video about the Wright brothers. Then have them work independently on computers to read and explore more information about lift. Have small groups of students choose a project to complete using some of the blue links provided in the reading. For example one group could explore "vector quantity" and present it to the class as if they were explaining it to a fifth grader, making it easier for everyone to understand the concept, and definitely ensuring that this small group will internalize what "vector quantity" is. Have students use a tool such as bubbl.us, reviewed here, to create and share concept maps of their assigned topics. The main bubble could be part of the concept in scientific language and the bubbles joining it could be the concept in kid language. Have groups present their project to the class as an assessment, and you could also embed it on your webpage or wiki for parents to view and students to use as a review.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NASA flickr pictures - NASA
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use the information in the pictures to create a timeline of missions. Research how technology of spacecraft and launch controls have changed over time. Modify student learning by challenging them to use a site such as Time Graphics Timeline Maker, reviewed here, to create and share interactive timelines. Use the links provided to find out more about specific missions and people involved. Assign a writing assignment to go with the pictures. Have students pick a particular picture that is of interest to them and explain why it captures their attention. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using the photo. Extend student learning and use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here. Create poems, newscasts, or other forms to showcase information and thoughts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), inventors and inventions (75), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Students doing research on the Wright brothers will find this site invaluable. Have students work in cooperative learning groups and research a specific topic found at this site. Exchange paper and pen notes by having students to take notes with an online tool like Simplenote, reviewed here. Have them share the info they learned with their small group. Tell students to be sure to save the URL to share their notes and questions. Simplenote allows you to access and update across all devices. Enhance learning by challenging students to modify their technology use and create a multimedia presentation using a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map) where the story takes place. Alternatively, students could use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, to enhance their learning and transform technology use by creating an interactive poster for their presentation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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PhET Interactive Simulations - University of Colorado at Boulder
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): circuits (20), electricity (61), energy (132), mass (19), motion (50), waves (15)
In the Classroom
Use these simulations initially in a unit to identify and discuss as a class the basic concepts. After more introduction, the simulations can be used as a lab assignment that generates data to be analyzed. Students can view the simulations and write about the concept or the fundamental principles. This will allow the teacher the opportunity to determine where student misconceptions are present. These activities can also be used as a review or in lieu of standard homework assignments that are repetitious but do not provide concrete or visual representations of the concept. This would be an excellent project for gifted students. Provide them the link to the site and the materials and allow them to learn how to use the simulation and teach it to fellow students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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NOVA Wings of Madness - PBS
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Flying has always fascinated us, and flying failures are sometimes more interesting than successes. Students will know all about the Wright Brothers; they are unlikely to have heard of Alberto Santos-Dumont. The interactives are terrific and the paper airplanes would make a good hands-on activity. The readings about Santos-Dumont would also make good selections for a reading teacher trying to find motivating readings to teach comprehension strategies.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age - Smithsonian
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Use the images on this site to create a visual discovery activity in your classroom to introduce the topic of the Wright brothers. Select 3-5 of the more powerful images, placing them on separate slides in a Powerpoint, to be displayed over the projector. Have students write down what they observe, predict and infer about each image jotting them down on a graphic organizer. (For help making graphic organizers, try: Graphic Organizer Maker, (reviewed here).) Once the class has gone through all of the images, have a class discussion based on the notes that students took during the process. This activity can be used to introduce or review, in a non-lecture format.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Stories of the Wrights' Flight - Smithsonian
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): flight (31), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plan that's offered on this site! There is even a pre-prepared graphic organizer that is available to help students catalog the information.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Paper Airplanes - Exploratorium
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
This site would be great for a physics unit discussing the aerodynamics of flight. Have a team competition as students use the site on an interactive whiteboard and try to create the best paper planes they can - through consideration of scientific processes that go into flight. This is a fun activity that allows students to practically apply concepts and have some fun.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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