Richardson1
Summer Science Lesson Plan: Paper Airplanes and the Scientific Method
Overview/Motivation:
- Learn about the scientific method, trial and error
- Learn some good designs for paper airplanes
- Have fun in the last week
Materials:
- Paper
- Scissors (camps will provide these)
Goals:
- Students should learn how to build the best paper airplane
- Students will learn about using the scientific method to try and build the best plane
- Students will have a good time
Vocabulary:
- Scientific Method
- Problem – what you want to solve/learn about
- Hypothesis – an educated guess, propose a solution to your problem
- Experiment – trying out what you think will work to see if it actually does
- Results – Seeing whether your hypothesis was true; if it was, think about why; if it was not, think of alternative solutions to try
Lesson:
- Ask the kids if they have ever heard of the scientific method
- Explain the different aspects/steps in the method, outlined above (make this interactive by having the kids try and think of what the different parts might be)
- Tell them that today we are going to put this method into action
- Have each kid (or pairs, depending on your preference) try and design the paper airplane that they think will fly furthest (give them 5 to 10 minutes to do this)
- They can only use paper and scissors
- Let each kid test their airplane, and compare to those of other kids in the class
- Ask the kids how they could apply the scientific method to helping their paper airplane be the best
- Have each student propose changes they could implement to make their plane fly further
- Let them test these and work on the plan for 15-20 minutes (or until they all stop doing it)
- Have a second competition, and see whose plane flew the furthest now
- Talk with the students about how they made changes, which ones worked, and which ones did not
- While the kids make paper airplanes, you can help them and maybe make one yourself as well
Q&A:
- Some websites with good designs:(Read some before you go teach)