Teacher's Guide for APPLESEEDS Flying with the Wright Brothers

Vocabulary

terminal * fascination * propellers * mechanical * physical * daring * design * inquiring * aviation * wind tunnel * glider

Comprehension Questions:

1. How old were Orville and Wilbur when they first became interested in flight?
2. What toys did the brothers use to help them learn about mechanics and flight?
3. How old were they when they made their first successful flight?
4. How long did their airplane stay in the air?
5. How is a wind tunnel used?
6. What are some of the brothers' personality traits that made them successful inventors?
7. In what ways did the brothers need to cooperate with each other in order to succeed?

Challenge Activities: Thinking Links

1. Why do you think some people refused to believe the Wrights had invented an airplane? What might they have said when they heard the news? Draw a cartoon about people not believing in the Wright brothers' airplane.
2. Make an arrow diagram showing the steps the Wrights took leading up to their successful flight. Include the details found in the article.
3. List all the challenges the Wrights had to overcome in developing the airplane. Choose one of the challenges from the list and explain how they overcame it.
4. How do you think Wilbur felt when he saw the World War II fighter planes? Pretend you are Wilbur and describe your feelings and thoughts.
5. Draw a picture of the first flight using clues from the article to help show what the plane and setting looked like.

Vocabulary

ornithopter * dirigible * rudder * contraption

History of Flight Timeline

Have students make a timeline using dates and names of important events and people found in the cartoons. Students can use paper strips or a timeline computer program.

Research Extension

Have students divide into five groups to gather more information about one of the inventors or inventions from their timelines. After researching, each group chooses how to share their research with the class. Choices might include making a booklet, poster, brochure, or basing a skit or story on their research.

Weather Wise

Have students chart the wind and temperature of Kitty Hawk for several weeks using the National Weather Service website at www.nws.noaa.gov. Make a chart comparing local weather to that at Kitty Hawk. Discuss why weather was an important factor in choosing Kitty Hawk for flight.

Determining Factors

Generate a list of criteria the Wrights used to choose a site as described in the article (soft ground, open area, no trees, strong winds, steady winds, mail and telegraph services, store for supplies). Use the list as a basis for the following activities:

1. In groups, have students determine what areas in your state fit the most criteria from the list. Groups share their choices and discuss how they decided. How many groups chose the same area?
2. Use world maps, books, and weather data to find other areas in the world that fit the criteria.

Tracking Flying Time and Distance

Students enjoy keeping track of their own test flights with paper airplanes. Charts can be made similar to the one shown in the article. Use columns for date, time, distance, wind speed, and airplane number. Challenge students to design different kinds of paper planes. Each plane should be given a number. Hold test flight days. Students measure and record the data on their charts. Encourage children to make modifications to their designs to try and increase the time aloft and distance traveled. After several flight days, have students use their data to describe their best test flight. Ask them to describe their best airplane and what about the design and conditions made the flight successful.

Vocabulary

myth * bridle * grazed * bucked * Pegasus * Chimera * Minotaur

Myth Collection and Creating

Collect stories and myths which include flight and/or winged creatures, such as the English Flying Dutchman tale, or the legend of Piasa of the Illini Indian tribe. These stories can be illustrated by students and displayed on a bulletin board or in a book.

Use these stories as a basis for a writing assignment. Students write myths with flight included as an important part of the story. Myths can be written to reflect a specific culture or time period.

Vocabulary

professional * commercial * co-pilot * ground crew

Comprehension Questions

1. How did Captain Steve Derebey feel on his first flight?
2. How is education important in becoming a pilot?
3. Why is education still important to the Captain?
4. List some of the skills the Captain needs in order to be good at his job.
5. How do you know that the Captain chose the right career?
6. Describe your first flight on an airplane. Try and remember all the details that you can. If you have never flown, describe how you think it would feel and tell what you think you would notice.

Interview a Pilot

Contact your local airport for local pilots who might consider being interviewed by students. Spend time with students in developing good questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" answer. Give students an opportunity to practice interviewing each other to make sure their questions make sense, and to practice writing down responses. Help students set up interview times either in person, or by phone or e-mail.

Amazing Aerodynamics

Have students practice the experiments in the article and in other flight books. Organize a Science Flight Day giving students an opportunity to share their experiments and demonstrations.

Vocabulary

gravity * lift * force * airfoil * air pressure * Bernoulli principle * thrust * propellors * jet engines * compressed * cockpit * throttle * altimeter * altitude * speedometer * gauges * monitor * fuselage * ailerons * rudder * elevators * friction * drag * streamline

A Fabulous Flying Machine

Students work alone or with others to create a fanciful flying machine. The requirements, however, is that their flying machine include engines, wings with flaps, a rudder, tail, and cockpit. These elements might look very different from a modern airplane. After drawing a picture, some students may want to make a model of their plane, others might enjoy writing a story about a fantastic adventure in their flying machine.

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Updated: 9/2/10 11:21 am
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