Safety Alert
As an educator you are responsible for the implementation of the activities found on this site. You must have safety procedures and rules established for you classroom and make sure all of the students follow the rules to ensure a safe environment. South Dakota Public Broadcasting cannot in any way be responsible or liable for any injury as a result of using the activities. Use the activities you feel are appropriate and safe for your individual class. Have fun and stay safe.

Questions, comments or ideas for Kids Quest can be e-mailed to Edservices@sdpb.org

It is common knowledge that all kids love to play. Unfortunately, some of the students you have in the classroom are not as thrilled about math, language arts or science class. Their minds may be on recess or a television show they watched the night before. The activity that follows is a very fun and easy supplement to bring your class alive without straying from learning. The kids will learn and have fun.

Activity:
     The focus of the following activity is something called "Bernoulli's Principle”. Don't let this scare you, I have explained Bernoulli's Principle below in the short video clips. Also, at this age it isn't important that all the kids understand the principle completely.
http://www.lsc.org/lscyouth/programs/psd2003/humanflight/bernouliprinciple.html

Watch the Science Sample clip 1  (11 min - Airplane Flight)

Watch the Science Sample clip 2  (8 min - More examples of Bernoulli's principle)

Materials per group:
white paper (4 per group) 
scissors (safety- 1 per group)
stopwatches (PE Dept.4 - 6 per class)
masking tape (1 role per class)
graph paper (1 per student)
colored pencils (many)
tape measure (1 per group-prefer metric system)
(note: A tape measure may be borrowed from a parent or the PE Dept. of your school. Some teachers use rulers and paper to make a measure line.)
goggles (1 per student)

Procedure:
Introduction of topic (space) (1-2 class periods)
1. Watch Kids Quest " Fill Your Head With Space”.
2. Cover information in your science text.
3. Visit educational web sites about space.
( http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/)
( http://education.nasa.gov)

Process:
1. The activity involves the designing, making and testing of a paper airplane. The class should be broken down into groups of 2. Each team should receive 4 pieces of white paper, scissors (safety), and a meter of tape. Each team should measure the tape for their group using the metric system. This would be a good time to compare measuring in feet and inches. Also, explain to the students there is a resistance for the use of the metric system in the everyday world. They should realize the metric system is used in most technological fields.

2. The students need to use one of the pieces of paper for the design phase. Explain to the students that the first part of the activity is design only. They may use a piece of paper to draw ideas, but they cannot fold the paper. They are disqualified if they fold the paper. This is a good test of self-control. I usually allow 5 minutes for this part of the activity. The students are never allowed to throw the planes before the actual competition. Goggles should be worn.

3. The students are usually allowed 10 -15 minutes to complete the build. They are not given more than the four sheets of paper. They may use the four sheets of paper and the 1 meter of tape to construct the plane. The plane must resemble some form of an aerodynamic design. A round ball of tape and paper will not work. It is a good idea to have a set amount of time and end the construction promptly.

4. The students should clean up their construction area and then move to the flight area. The flight area needs to be fairly long similar to a hallway. There should be a start line with all of the kids behind the throw area. The tape measure should be extended out from the start line in the opposite direction of the kids. Small circles could be placed on the line to represent the planets in our solar system. This will reinforce the names of our planets. 4 - 6 students need to run the stopwatches. All of the students should have the opportunity to run one of the watches.

5. The first student should approach the start line. The student will say 1..2..3 and then throw the plane. All students should have eye protection. The timers should start the watches at the point of release. They should continue to time until the plane comes to rest. The group that made the plane reads the distance the plane flew using the tape measure. Averages of all 4-6 stop watches are recorded. A data table is used to record the distance, and the time the plane is in the air. With your help, the students can decide which information they want to use to construct the graph. A graph could be made comparing distance attained, the number of planes to pass certain planets or flight time.

6. The activity can be modified to meet your needs. Prizes like a pop or small candy bar can be given to entice the students.


(example graph - can be completed on paper)
(does not represent real data)

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/resources/resources_lesson_1.html - Additional activities using Bernoulli's Principle