Name of Lesson: future flight
Teacher’s Name:
Subject Area(s):Math
Grade Level:
third
Time Frame:
week
Essential Question of this Lesson:
How does area relate to my everyday life?
Does the area of the wings affect the distance of the flight?
Standards Alignment:
3.MD.5 A square with side length 1 unit called a unit square can be used to measure area.
3.MD.6- Measure area by counting unit squares.
Brief overview of lesson:
The problem: There are so many aircrafts in the air at one time. Therefore, air traffic is so crowded. Many flights are delayed
because the sky is so full. To alleviate this problem aeronautics engineers need to develop larger aircrafts that can fly longer distance
in a shorter length of time as well as carry a large amount of people.
Background knowledge: An aeronautic engineer came and spoke to the class about aeronautics engineering. He discussed the job
duties and responsibilities of an aeronautics engineer. Next students read and research the topic future flight design. They used the
website http://futureflight.arc.nasa.gov/
Real world connection: students will send a picture of their designs to the aeronautics engineer. He will determine if he can use some
of the ideas to design a future aircraft.
Students will also perform a flight experiment on different aircrafts with different shapes and area. They will have to determine if the
area of different shaped wings and tails affect the length or distance a plane will fly in a shorter length of time. Students will also
create a bar graph in microsoft word to compare and contrast the different aircrafts (areas, distance and time).
Part 2 Students will design a future airport that takes up the least amount of area and allow a large aircraft to take off quickly.
Resources/Materials Needed:
Flight kit
Rulers
Grid paper
http://futureflightnasa.arc,gov
Pre-assessment: (How did you know who would benefit from a differentiated lesson plan? How did you determine that this lesson was
well-suited to that student’s/ those students’ needs?)
Students were given a pretest on area and perimeter
Most of the students were able to answer the most challenging area word problems.
Formative/Summative Assessment Plan: (What will students know/ be able to do as a result of this lesson? How will you measure
student learning and application of this lesson?)
Determine area and perimeter of airplane
Students knowledge will be evaluated using performance task rubric
Teaching Procedures:
First an aeronautics engineer will speak to the class about the career of an aeronautics engineer ( hook and motivator)
Pretest was given on area and perimeter to determine the readiness for the project. The pretest consisted of challenging two step word
problems. Students then completed a contract to organize their plan of action. Students researched future flight topic on
www.futurflight.arc and took notes. Student s was encouraged to use notes on future aircraft designs and airports from the videos and
website to offer ideas on how to design a future aircraft. After students researched the topic. They will begin their experiment with
designing an aircraft with different shapes and areas. Before each flight students will make a hypothesis on which aircraft that they
think will fly the farthest in a short amount of time. Students will draw different shapes with different areas for the construction of the
wings and tail. The y will use grid paper that the real aeronautics engineers use to trace their shapes onto Then they will glue the
wings and tail onto the stick or body of the aircraft.. Next they will calculate the area using square units and then using a ruler to
measure the lengths and widths in inches. Students will perform their task of flying the different aircrafts outside. When they finish
their experiment they will graph their findings in Microsoft words. The second part of the project is to design a future runway that
will allow their aircraft to take off quickly and doesn’t take up a lot of area in order to conserve green space. The students will use
grid paper to calculate the area and perimeter.
The second part of the project will require the students to research future airports on www.futurflight.arc and the different types of
airport runways. Then they will design an airport runway with different quadrilaterals, 2D and 3D shapes. Students will be
encouraged to create local attractions that use flexibility and originality.
Reflection on this lesson: (What aspects worked particularly well? How would you improve this lesson? What were some “Ah-Ha”
moments?) Students were motivated and enjoyed designing the aircrafts using the Midwest aircraft kit. The Ah-ha moment was them
constructing how to design and decide on the best way to create the aircraft. I learned that if you give step by step checklist and a
rubric they were able to work independently. The aeronautics engineer modeled how to make the aircraft but, I allowed them to create
and decide on the best way to construct the aircraft. They tried different ways to assemble the plane. It was fun and exciting to see
them construct the planes .The second part took more time to research and design. However, it originated a lot of discussion. Also, it
took longer to complete the airport runway because the research and information was very in depth. I would improve the lesson by
maybe next time have a civil engineer to come help them design an airport and discuss their career ( I am planning on having one to
come and speak with the class).