Aeronautics

A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Science, Math, and Technology

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Every pilot, astronaut, and airplane engineer started somewhere. Many of them began by playing with a toy glider!

This guide helps teachers teach kids about aeronautics. Aeronautics means the study of flying and how airplanes work. The word comes from old Greek words meaning "air" and "to sail."

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Table of Contents

• Thank You Page
• How to Use This Guide
• Charts that show what science and math standards each activity teaches
• About NASA's Airplane Work
• Some Airplane History for Teachers
• Activities about Air: Air Engines, Dunked Napkin, Paper Bag Mask, Wind in Your Socks, and more ideas
• Activities about Flight: Bag Balloons, Sled Kite, Right Flight, Delta Wing Glider, Rotor Motor, and more ideas
• Activities called "We Can Fly, You and I": Making Time Fly, Where is North?, Build a Table Top Airport, Plan to Fly There, and more ideas
• At the End of the Book: Parts of an Airplane, a list of flying words and what they mean, books to read, and other NASA helps for teachers

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Thank You

This guide was made with help from many people at NASA. They wrote the activities, took the photos, and drew the airplane pictures. The guide was put together at a NASA center in California, with help from a NASA center in Virginia.

This book belongs to everyone. Anyone can copy it and use it — you do not need permission.

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How to Use This Guide

This guide starts by showing what science and math skills kids will learn. It also tells about NASA's work with airplanes and gives a short history of flying.

The activities are split into three groups:

• Air
• Flight
• We Can Fly, You and I

Each activity is written for the teacher. It starts by telling:

1. What students should learn
2. What school skills it teaches
3. Helpful background information

Then it gives step-by-step directions with pictures, so the teacher can lead the class.

Each activity also has student pages. These have simple pictures or worksheets. They help students remember what they learned and let them be creative. Some activities show students how to build something, step by step, using pictures — so even kids who can't read much yet can follow along.

At the end of each group of activities, there are more activity ideas that connect to other school subjects.

This book is free for anyone to copy and use.

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Welcome!

Welcome to the exciting world of aeronautics — the study of flying!

This guide teaches the basic ideas about flight. It also shares some history of airplanes. And it looks at the world where flying happens — like the sky, airports, and how pilots find their way.

The activities in this book are simple and fun. They were made by NASA teachers who travel and teach kids all over the country. These activities help kids explore how flying works. They also show kids how math, science, and technology are used in real life.

Learning about flight can make anyone excited to learn more!

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Charts: What This Guide Teaches

This guide includes charts. The charts show which activities teach which school skills.

Science Skills Chart — shows which activities teach about:

• Asking questions and testing ideas
• How things move
• What objects and materials are like
• Explaining things using evidence
• Science and technology working together
• How science affects people's lives
• The history of science

Math Skills Chart — shows which activities teach about:

• Solving problems
• Talking about ideas
• Thinking things through
• Connecting ideas
• Measuring
• Checking your answers
• Estimating (making a smart guess)
• Predicting (guessing what will happen)
• Making graphs

Science Skills Chart — shows which activities teach kids to:

• Watch closely
• Talk about what they see
• Measure things
• Collect information
• Predict what will happen
• Make pictures and charts
• Investigate (look closely to find out)
• Understand information they collect
• Figure things out
• Change one thing at a time to test it
• Build models

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NASA's Airplane Work

NASA has a special team that works on new flying and space travel ideas. Their job is to:

• Solve problems with flying and space travel
• Keep the United States a leader in flying technology
• Keep our country safe
• Share new inventions with everyone

To make travel better, we need new ideas — not just for computers and phones, but for moving people and things too. To explore space more, space travel needs to cost less and be safer.

Our daily lives depend on airplanes that are safe and don't hurt the environment. People need to move quickly, safely, and affordably.

NASA works with companies, the government, and schools. Together, they made four big goals:

• Make flying better
• Improve space travel
• Create new inventions
• Share new inventions with businesses

Make Flying Better

NASA wants flying to be safer and cleaner for our planet. This means:

• Make flying safer — In 10 years, have 5 times fewer airplane accidents. In 25 years, have 10 times fewer accidents.
• Make less pollution — Keep our air and climate clean.
• Cut down harmful gases from airplanes by 70% in 10 years, and by 80% in 25 years.