Teaching with Flight Lab

About these lessons

Four lessons of about forty-five minutes each, for ages eleven to fourteen. Students throw a paper plane in a gym, find out what a harder throw really does, bend the back edges to stop a dive, steer it on purpose down a school hallway, and finish by printing their own plane and folding it from real paper. Each lesson has one idea, ends with something the student did and can explain, and only uses what the lessons before it taught.

You do not need to have used Flight Lab before, or to know anything about how planes fly. Everything you are asked to say or point at is written here, in the words that are on the screen. The distances in this guide are the ones the lab gives for the plane each step describes.

How to read this guide

Each lesson is a row of short parts, and each part has the same five headings:

1. Say what to tell the class, in a sentence or two. Use your own words if you like.
2. Students do the steps, in order. Read them out or put them on the board.
3. On their screens what you should see when you walk round. If a screen does not look like this, that student needs you.
4. If it goes wrong what usually goes wrong at this step, and the way out.
5. Ask a question for the room. The point is the talking, so take two or three answers and do not give yours.

The four lessons

Before the first lesson

• Every student needs Flight Lab open in a browser, with a mouse or a trackpad. It runs on a Chromebook. Nothing is installed.
• Work is kept as the student goes. There is no save button to forget.
• Nothing needs sound.
• The lab shows feet and mph, or meters and km/h. The two buttons under Units on the Fly bench switch between them. This guide gives numbers in feet; in meters they are about a third as big.
• Lesson 4 needs a printer for the last part, and one sheet of US letter or A4 paper for each student. The printer must print at 100%, not "fit to page".
• Try lesson 1 yourself first. It takes ten minutes, and you will have met every button the class will meet.

The screen. These are the names this guide uses, and they are the words on the screen.

Lesson 1: How hard to throw

Lesson 1: How hard to throw: The first throw (0 to 10)

1. Say This is Flight Lab. Today you are the one throwing, and the question is how hard to throw a paper plane to make it go farthest.
2. Students do Open Flight Lab. The classic dart is already picked on the Plane bench. Press Fly at the top. Check that Gym is picked under Where, then press Throw it.
3. On their screens The plane leaves a thrower's hand in a gym and glides across the floor, seen from behind it. The bench says A steady glide: 24 ft in 1.7 s., and under that, why it flew that way.
4. If it goes wrong The picture is flat lines and no gym: Diagram is picked under Watch. Press 3D. On a slow computer, Diagram is fine and shows the same flight from the side and from above.
5. Ask It went 24 feet. What would you change first to make it go farther?

Lesson 1: How hard to throw: Harder and harder (10 to 30)

1. Say Most people say "throw it harder". Let us test that. Make a table with three columns: how hard, what it did, and how far.
2. Students do Under The throw, move How hard to 1 and press Throw it. Write down the first line the bench says. Then 2, 3, and so on up to 10.
3. On their screens The slider says, for example, 3 of 10: 15 mph. At 1 the plane dives to the floor at 8 ft. At 2 and 3 it glides, 16 and 24 ft. At 4, 5 and 6 it climbs, then dives: 28, 29 and 25 ft. From 7 up it goes over the top in a loop. At 8 and 9 the loop carries it about 44 ft.
4. If it goes wrong The numbers do not change: the student moved the slider but did not press Throw it again.
5. Ask The farthest throws were hard ones that climbed or looped. Which throw would you trust to land where you wanted? Why?

Lesson 1: How hard to throw: Watch it slowly (30 to 38)

1. Say A climb and dive happens in about two seconds. Let us slow it down and watch from the side.
2. Students do Set How hard to 5. Under Watch, press From the side and Slow motion, then press Throw it. Press Watch it again as many times as needed.
3. On their screens The plane rises, slows, tips its nose down and dives to the floor: A climb, then a dive. The bench says it left your hand faster than it likes to fly, so its wings lifted it up until it slowed, and then it nosed over.
4. Ask Point at the moment the plane was slowest. What was its nose doing just after?

Lesson 1: How hard to throw: Ten throws (38 to 45)

1. Say No hand throws exactly the same way twice. Real tests are done many times.
2. Students do Set How hard back to 3 and press Throw it ten times.
3. On their screens Ten flight lines and ten yellow dots where they landed. The bench says Ten throws: 22 ft to 25 ft. and that half landed past 24 ft.
4. Ask If you were told one throw went 25 feet, would you believe this plane always goes 25 feet? What would you want to know first?

By the end, each student can say:

• I threw the same plane at every strength and recorded what each throw did.
• I can explain why a harder throw can make a plane climb, dive or loop.
• I can say why one throw is not enough to judge a plane.

Lesson 2: Balance

Lesson 2: Balance: Where the weight is (0 to 8)

1. Say A sheet of paper weighs the same everywhere. A folded plane does not: where the paper is folded over, there are more layers.
2. Students do Press Fold. Under See, press Play the folds and watch the sheet fold into the dart. Then press Show the layers.
3. On their screens The flat sheet folds itself, step by step. With the layers showing, the nose is the brightest part: brighter is more paper.
4. Ask Where is most of the weight? What do you think that does to the way it flies?

Lesson 2: Balance: Flat back edges (8 to 15)

1. Say The back corners of the wings are bent up a little. On a real plane, they are the little bends folders make with a fingernail before a throw. Let us take them away.
2. Students do Press Shape. Set Left back edge and Right back edge both to 0. Press Fly, check How hard is at 3, and press Throw it.
3. On their screens The back edges start at 12° up. At 0, the plane noses down: A dive: 14 ft. The bench says to bend the back edges up a little to lift the nose.
4. If it goes wrong Only one side was set to 0: the plane curves off to one side. Set both.
5. Ask The bent edges at the back held the nose up. How can a bend at the back lift the front?

Lesson 2: Balance: Find the best bend (15 to 32)

1. Say Now find the bend that makes it go farthest. Change both edges together, the same each time, and record each throw.
2. Students do On Shape, set both back edges to 4. Throw it on Fly. Then 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24, throwing each time.
3. On their screens At 4 it glides 19 ft. At 8 and at 12 it glides 24 ft. At 16, 20 and 24 it still glides, but slower and shorter each time: 21, 18 and 16 ft.
4. If it goes wrong A student changed How hard as well. Put it back to 3: only one thing changes at a time.
5. Ask Too little bend and it dives; too much and it slows down and lands short. Why would a plane with its nose held up go slower?

Lesson 2: Balance: A paper clip (32 to 45)

1. Say A paper clip is extra weight you can put where you want it. Where you put it moves the balance point.
2. Students do On Shape, set both back edges to 20 and throw: a short, slow glide. Then, under Paper clip, press Near the front and throw again. Try In the middle too.
3. On their screens With no clip and 20 degrees of bend, a glide of 18 ft. With the clip Near the front, the same bend glides 21 ft. With the clip In the middle, about 20 ft. The line under the clip choices says a clip is weight, and moving it forward moves the balance point forward.
4. Ask Why did the clip at the front help most?

By the end, each student can say:

• I made the plane dive on purpose, found the bend that went farthest, and know what each change did.
• I found the bend that glides farthest by changing one thing at a time.
• I can explain how a clip at the front changes the balance.

Lesson 3: Steering

Lesson 3: Steering: A turn on purpose (0 to 12)

1. Say Folders steer a paper plane with its back edges. Your job is to work out the rule: which edge, which way.
2. Students do Press Shape, press Put it back as it came, and under Paper clip press None. Set Right back edge to 14 and Left back edge to 10. Press Fly, press From above under Watch, and press Throw it. Then swap the two numbers and throw again.
3. On their screens The plane tips its right wing down and curves to the right, gently, about a foot to the right by the time it lands: A turn: 22 ft. Swapped, it curves to the left just as far. Under Things to try, A turn on purpose gets a check mark.
4. If it goes wrong It went straight: check both numbers, 14 and 10. It turned the wrong way, or not at all: a student who also changed Wing angle should press Put it back as it came and start again.
5. Ask Say the rule in one sentence. Then: why would a plane that tips its wing to one side go that way?

Lesson 3: Steering: Too much (12 to 20)

1. Say If a little is a turn, what does a lot do?
2. Students do Set Right back edge to 16 and Left back edge to 8, and throw.
3. On their screens The plane rolls right over onto its side and falls: A roll off to one side: 16 ft.
4. Ask Real pilots turn by banking a little and holding it. Why not bank a lot to turn faster?

Lesson 3: Steering: Down the hallway (20 to 45)

1. Say A school hallway is long, narrow and low. The challenge: fly all 49 feet of it without touching the ceiling or the walls.
2. Students do Press Put it back as it came on Shape. On Fly, press Hallway, then under Contest press Down the hallway. Throw it. Then change one thing at a time, using everything from lessons 1 and 2, until it reaches the end.
3. On their screens At first it glides 24 ft and the bench says how far short of the end it stopped. Thrown harder at 4, it hits the ceiling. One way through: back edges at 4, How hard at 6, and Angle at level. Then the bench says All the way down the hallway! There are others.
4. If it goes wrong It keeps hitting the ceiling: the throw is too hard for the bend, or it is aimed up. Less bend, or a level throw. It hits a wall: the two back edges are not the same.
5. Ask To go farther you needed more speed, but more speed made it climb into the ceiling. What did you change to have both?

By the end, each student can say:

• I can turn the plane left or right on purpose, and say the rule.
• I know what happens when the two sides are bent very differently.
• I flew the whole hallway, and can say which changes got me there.

Lesson 4: Design, test, improve

Lesson 4: Design, test, improve: One change at a time (0 to 15)

1. Say Pick a plane on the Plane bench and a contest on the Fly bench. Then improve it. The rule: change one thing, throw, write it down.
2. Students do Choose any plane under Start from, and any contest under Contest. Throw it once and write the result. Change one slider or button, throw, write. At least five rows.
3. On their screens Each throw ends with what kind of flight it was, how far and how long. Things to try, at the bottom of the Fly bench, lists ten goals, and fills in the ones the student has done.
4. If it goes wrong A student changed three things and does not know which one helped. Press Undo to step back through them, one at a time.
5. Ask Which single change made the biggest difference? Did any change help one contest and hurt another?

Lesson 4: Design, test, improve: A rule that trims (15 to 25)

1. Say You have been doing the same thing over and over: throw, see what it did, bend the edges, throw again. Written as a rule, the lab can do it for you.
2. Students do On Plane, check the classic dart is picked. On Shape, press Put it back as it came, set Paper clip to None, and set both back edges to 0. On Fly, press Gym and Standing, set How hard to 3 and Angle to 5, then scroll to Your trim rule. Read the rule in the box, then press Try my rule.
3. On their screens A numbered list: the first throw dove, the rule bent the back edges up 2, and the next throw glided, so the rule said stop. A button, Keep this trim, keeps the bend the rule found.
4. If it goes wrong A highlighted line starting Line and a number: that line of the rule is one the lab cannot read. Each rule starts when it, then a flight, a comma, and a change. A rule to start from puts back a rule that works.
5. Ask The rule stopped at the first glide, at 16 ft. In lesson 2 the best glide went 24. Change the rule so it keeps going. What would it need to know that it cannot see?

Lesson 4: Design, test, improve: From the screen to paper (25 to 45)

1. Say The plane on your screen can be folded from a real sheet. The plan shows every fold, numbered in order.
2. Students do Press Export. Under A plan to fold, press Lines only, to save ink. Open the PDF from your Files, print the first page at 100%, and fold it, following the numbers. Bend the back edges as the plan says. Then, with the class, throw it along the line you were given.
3. On their screens The plan is saved to the student's Files as a PDF, with a line under the button giving its name and how many pages it has. The first page is the sheet at full size with every crease numbered in the order to fold it; the pages after it show the steps. The last box says how to open it out, how far to bend the back edges, and what flight Flight Lab expects from a medium throw.
4. If it goes wrong The printed sheet is smaller than the paper: the printer was set to fit the page. Print again at 100%. Folds that do not meet: fold slowly and press each crease flat before the next.
5. Ask Did the real plane fly the way the plan's last box said it would? What could be different about real paper, a real throw and a real room?

By the end, each student can say:

• I improved a plane one change at a time and kept a record of every throw.
• I ran a trim rule and can say what it can and cannot decide.
• I folded my plane from its plan and threw it for real.

Where to go next

Flight Lab has more for students who want it. The Field, under Where, has The breeze: a throw into the wind, with the wind, or across it, and the bench explains what the wings met. On the Fold bench, a student can start from A blank sheet on the Plane bench and fold a design of their own, with exact folds under A fold at a measure, or write the folds as sentences under Fold from a program. Show all, at the top, shows the rest of the sliders.

What students get wrong, and where the app answers it

What the app simplifies, on purpose

• The paper stays stiff and the folds stay crisp. Real paper bends in flight, and real folds open up after a few throws.
• Each wing is treated as a flat plate. Where along the wing its lift acts is a blend of two textbook answers that we chose, so the app never gives the distance between the balance point and the lift, only which side it is on.
• The drag of the folded edges is our own number. The app's planes come down about a foot for every 3 feet forward; measured paper planes manage about 5, so real gliders go farther from a height.
• The short, pointed wings keep lifting to steep angles, so in the gym a plane thrown too hard climbs and noses over rather than stalling and swooping. Students may still see a stall with real paper.
• The wing angle stops at a few degrees for each design (8 on the dart). Past that, the app's turns would go the wrong way, and no measurement of paper planes says they do.
• Indoors the air is still, outdoors the breeze is steady, and the throw has no spin. Throw it ten times adds the small differences a hand would.

Code, saving and the ways out

The trim rule is a short program in the student's own words: when it dives, bend the back edges up 2; when it glides, stop. The fold program writes a whole plane as sentences the app folds. Both can be written as text or as Glassbox blocks. The plane, its paint, its marks, its trim rule and its last throw save with the project.

Export makes a plan to fold as a PDF, the first page the sheet at actual size with every crease numbered (with the student's colors and marks, or lines only to save ink), the crease pattern as a FOLD file, a 3D model for a game, and a file for a 3D printer.

Standards

• 3-5-ETS1-1 to 3: a criterion, constraints, fair tests and failure points.
• 3-PS2-2: a pattern in observed motion used to predict the next, in the ten-throw scatter.
• MS-ETS1-1 to 4, and MS-ETS1-4 most of all: a model that generates data to test and improve a design.
• MS-PS2-2: a change in force or mass changes the motion, through the throw, the back edges and the clip.

More help

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