Aeronautics

An Educator's Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education

What pilot, astronaut, or aeronautical engineer didn't start out with a toy glider?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This publication is in the Public Domain and is not protected by copyright. Permission is not required for duplication.

---

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface/How to Use This Guide

Matrices

• Science Standards
• Mathematics Standards
• Science Process Skills

Aerospace Technology Enterprise

Aeronautics Background for Educators

Activities

Air

• Air Engines
• Dunked Napkin
• Paper Bag Mask
• Wind in Your Socks
• Air: Interdisciplinary Learning Activities

Flight

• Bag Balloons
• Sled Kite
• Right Flight
• Delta Wing Glider
• Rotor Motor
• Flight: Interdisciplinary Learning Activities

We Can Fly, You and I

• Making Time Fly
• Where is North? The Compass Can Tell Us
• Let's Build a Table Top Airport
• Plan to Fly There
• We Can Fly, You and I: Interdisciplinary Learning Activities

Appendix

• The Parts of an Airplane
• Aeronautical Glossary
• Suggested Reading
• NASA Resources for Educators
• Evaluation Reply Card

---

Acknowledgments

Photography
(Listed clockwise from upper left) NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics — the agency that came before NASA) file photos, NASA file photos, and photos by Nick Galante, Mike Smith, Jim Ross, Ted Huetter, and Carla Thomas appear throughout this guide.

Special thanks to: Michelle Davis, Lee Duke, Jim Fitzgerald, Deborah Gallaway, Jane George, Doris Grigsby, Yvonne Kellogg, Marianne McCarthy, Joan Sanders, Greg Vogt, Deborah Dyer Wahlstrom, and Ralph Winrich. NACA/NASA aircraft technical drawings were made by Dennis Calaba and Marco Corona.

This guide was created at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, with help designing graphics from NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Editors: Pat Biggs and Ted Huetter

Contributors/Writers: Charles Anderson, Pat Biggs, Deborah Brown, Steve Culivan, Sue Ellis, James Gerard, Ellen Hardwick, Norm Poff, Carla Rosenberg, Deborah Shearer, Octavia Tripp, and Ron Ernst

Art Direction and Layout: Ted Huetter

Graphic Illustration: Rod Waid

---

How to Use This Guide

This guide begins with charts (called matrices) that show which education standards and skills each classroom activity covers. It also includes a description of NASA's aeronautics mission and a short history of aeronautics — the science of flight. The activities are organized into three chapters:

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

The activities are written for teachers. Each one starts with three parts: (1) the learning objectives, (2) the education standards and skills it covers, and (3) background information about the topic. After that, the activity gives step-by-step instructions, along with helpful pictures, so teachers can guide students through the activity in the classroom.

Every activity also includes "student pages." These pages are marked with a special icon so they're easy to find. Some student pages are simple pictures of the activity, while others are more advanced worksheets. They are meant to support what the teacher presents, help students remember key ideas, and spark their own creativity. For activities where students build something step by step, the student pages show the project in a way that even students who can't read well yet can follow.

Each chapter ends with a list of suggested activities that connect aeronautics to other school subjects.

This publication is in the public domain and is not protected by copyright. Permission is not required for duplication.

---

Preface

Welcome to the exciting world of aeronautics! The word aeronautics comes from France, where it was built from two Greek words meaning "air" and "to sail." Aeronautics is the study of flight and how aircraft work. This guide explains basic ideas about flight, gives background on the history of aviation (another word for flying and aircraft), and places these ideas within the bigger picture of flight — including the atmosphere, airports, and navigation (the science of figuring out where you are and how to get where you're going).

The activities in this guide are meant to be simple and fun. They were created by specialists from NASA's Aerospace Education Services Program, who have used them successfully in workshops and student programs across the United States. These activities encourage students to explore how flight works and to see real-life examples of math, science, and technology in action.

The subject of flight has a wonderful power to inspire learning.

---

Aerospace Technology Enterprise

NASA's Aerospace Technology Enterprise has a mission: to develop advanced technologies that solve the challenges of air and space travel, keep the United States a world leader in aerospace technology and national security, and share the benefits of these new discoveries with society.

To take full advantage of today's revolution in communication and information technology, we also need a revolution in how people and goods move from place to place — what's called mobility. To open up new possibilities for space exploration and business in space, we must make space travel cheaper, safer, and more dependable.

Our economy and our quality of life depend on having an air travel system that is safe, kind to the environment, and able to keep up with the demand for fast, reliable, and affordable ways to move people and goods.

Working together with partners in industry, government, and universities, NASA has set four major goals to keep the United States a leader in civil aeronautics (aircraft flight for everyday, non-military purposes) and space transportation:

• Revolutionize aviation
• Advance space transportation
• Pioneer new technology
• Bring new technology to the marketplace

Revolutionize Aviation

NASA's goal to revolutionize aviation focuses on allowing air travel to grow safely and in ways that protect the environment. This includes:

• Increase safety — Make air travel, which is already safe, even safer by cutting the aircraft accident rate to one-fifth of today's rate within 10 years, and to one-tenth of today's rate within 25 years.
• Reduce emissions — Protect the air we breathe and our planet's climate by cutting the pollution aircraft produce. The goal is to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from future aircraft by 70 percent within 10 years and by 80 percent within 25 years.