Introduction

In this web quest you are a member of a design team employed to create the world's greatest paper airplane. Each member of the team will choose a certain roll on the design team. Your mission is to design, construct, and fly a paper airplane.

Task

1)  Decide who on your team will do what job.     Each team member will choose one of the following rolls:      a)  Researcher of the flight principles.      b)  Researcher of elements of flight. Accessories.      c)  Pilot tossing technique.      d)  Reporter. 2)  Create a paper airplane that flies for accuracy and distance. 3)  Write a clear set of instructions explaining how to recreate your plane.   4) Each individual of the team is to write an explanation of how a plane flies with includes the definition of lift and drag.

Process

Researcher:  Share with the group the definition of drag and lift. The author is your assistant. Begin the design of the plane.  Elements designer:  Share with the group two different paper airplane models. As a group, decide which model to construct. Begin the design of the plane. Your assistant is the pilot.  Pilot:  Practice throwing the plane. You are also in charge of the art work on your plane. Recorder:  Take notes on the entire process using the journal given to the team. Begin the process of writing the final report.

Materials

1) Each group will be given 10 sheets of 8 1/2" X 11" copy paper (one per plane) and a journal to record the process. 2) Ten paper clips. 3) One pair of scissors. 4) No glue or tape. 5) Data Sheet for recording flight data

Resources

Click to go to the resource page.

Evaluation

At the end of the unit each team will be evaluated. A target will be set up at 10 feet intervals. The team that hits the target from the farthest distance is the winner. All planes must be accompanied by a detailed set of written instructions before entering the flight contest. The recorder will collect and write the data on the data sheet. After the contest, each team member must write an explanation of why the plane were able to fly. The definitions for lift and drag must be included in the explanation.

Created by Tracy Barnes, Todd Tomlinson, and Cate Boggs (cboggs@bright.net)

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