How Did Building Bikes Help the Wright Brothers Invent the Airplane?
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There are few more exciting things to think about than the awesome ability of humans to travel in the air. And to think, modern air travel really got moving because of two brothers and a bicycle... |
English/Language Arts
Explore the use of comparisons to explain concepts
Up and down movement (pitch), or side to side motion (yaw), is relatively easy to explain. It’s when you add in the third type of motion (roll) that your audience may need some assistance. Ask your students how Author Carson does this for her readers. Let them discover the use of an example to help readers visualize roll - the child “zooming around with tilted arms spread wide.” Can they come up with other examples? Have them look in their writer’s notebooks for pieces that might benefit by using a comparative example to demonstrate what they are trying to say.
Social Studies
Explore air travel and movement; cause and effect
The invention of air travel was incredibly influential on the movement of people throughout the globe. Have your students think about global human movement before and after the invention of air travel, and then develop a list of effects that came from this one invention.
STEM
Explore aerodynamics
How long can you keep a paper airplane in the air? What keeps it up? What changes affect how long it flies? Have your students spend some time creating and testing paper airplanes and then draw some conclusions about the nature of lift, surface area and resistance.
Explore engineering - the bicycle
Use this Minute to have students take a closer look at the bicycle. How does it work? What exactly do the gears do? Try some reverse engineering with an old bike and identify the hows and whys of bicycle design, then challenge students to come up with a way to improve the design. Can they see the connection between a bike and an airplane? Can they explain it?
Research Skills
Explore the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum
Take your student on a virtual field trip of the SMithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Do a search for the Wright Brothers, or aerodynamics, and you will find Inventing the Airplane, Changing the World, a collection of articles and videos that will help students understand the history, science and impact of the Wright Brothers amazing discovery.
Explore the use of comparisons to explain concepts
Up and down movement (pitch), or side to side motion (yaw), is relatively easy to explain. It’s when you add in the third type of motion (roll) that your audience may need some assistance. Ask your students how Author Carson does this for her readers. Let them discover the use of an example to help readers visualize roll - the child “zooming around with tilted arms spread wide.” Can they come up with other examples? Have them look in their writer’s notebooks for pieces that might benefit by using a comparative example to demonstrate what they are trying to say.
Social Studies
Explore air travel and movement; cause and effect
The invention of air travel was incredibly influential on the movement of people throughout the globe. Have your students think about global human movement before and after the invention of air travel, and then develop a list of effects that came from this one invention.
STEM
Explore aerodynamics
How long can you keep a paper airplane in the air? What keeps it up? What changes affect how long it flies? Have your students spend some time creating and testing paper airplanes and then draw some conclusions about the nature of lift, surface area and resistance.
Explore engineering - the bicycle
Use this Minute to have students take a closer look at the bicycle. How does it work? What exactly do the gears do? Try some reverse engineering with an old bike and identify the hows and whys of bicycle design, then challenge students to come up with a way to improve the design. Can they see the connection between a bike and an airplane? Can they explain it?
Research Skills
Explore the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum
Take your student on a virtual field trip of the SMithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Do a search for the Wright Brothers, or aerodynamics, and you will find Inventing the Airplane, Changing the World, a collection of articles and videos that will help students understand the history, science and impact of the Wright Brothers amazing discovery.
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
