Airplane Engineering (Design & Build)

In this lesson you will you will use the IB design cycle to create an airplane that is capable of flying a minimum of 20 ft. Your craft should be able to be launched by anyone in your group and sturdy enough to stand up to multiple flights. Your project should "fly" and come close to resembling an aircraft (ie no giant balls of materials that are just thrown.) Your overall distance will be the average of 3 flights so consistency will be important. The purpose of this unit is to begin to understand what elements of design and process make real differences in the outcome of your project.

Materials:

• • 2x4 sheet of foam board

  • Hot Glue

  • Materials on cart

Lesson Parts/Phase

• Research -

  • • Create a page on your website called "Airplane Engineering" (you may change the name later) Place the page under the IB heading that most represents this project for you.

• • Find and document 3 designs of real airplanes that have been built, using your best judgment make assumptions about the airplane's capabilities based on how it looks.

  • Read about the airplane and compare it to your initial assumptions, list any special features of the airplane that would be of interest.

  • Design -

    • Using sheets of paper draw 3 scale models of airplanes your group would like to build (2 inches = 1 foot).

    • Take pictures of the models and place them on your web page, under each picture write a few sentences about how you came up with your design.

    • List at least 3 bullet points for pros and 3 for cons about each design. List 3 materials from the cart and how they may be used to enhance your airplane's capabilities.

  • Build -

    • Take the time to measure and cut pieces of your plane, if you make a mistake it will be difficult to undo.

    • Tool safety is paramount; any unsafe use of tools will cause your groups project to come to an immediate halt and other tasks will be assigned.

  • Test - Create a test that can be repeated with accuracy.

  • Evaluate - Be critical in your evaluation, change things about your plane carefully and purposefully.

Wrap Up - Place the picture of your final design on your web page below what is already there and answer these questions in short paragraph form (3-4 sentences each):

• 1. What was the change that made the most difference in the way the plane flew, was it a positive or negative difference?

  2. If you could build the plane again what would you differently about its construction?

  3. If you could do this project over again what would you change about the way your group approached time use on this project?