Have you ever wanted to fly? To soar above valleys and mountains, cities and oceans, feeling the wind whipping against your face? Flight has fascinated humans for as long as we have looked ...
Use this timeline to find out some highlights in the progression of flight in human history. 1000 BCE – First kites Kites are invented in China. 852 BCE – A king tries to fly The English King ...
One of the requirements for heavier-than-air flying machines is a structure that combines strength with light weight. This is true for birds as well as planes. Birds have many physical features ...
Wing shapes and sizes of both birds and planes determine how they might perform or what they might be capable of (for example, gliding, sustained high speed and manoeuvrability). One way in which ...
For a plane or bird to fly, its wings must produce enough lift to equal its weight. Most wings used in flight are a special shape – called aerofoils (or airfoils). This shape is needed to help ...
You can tell a great deal about how a bird lives or what a plane has been designed for just from its wing shape and size. Wings of both birds and planes determine how they might perform or what ...
For thousands of years, people have wanted to fly. Our legends and fairy tales are full of humans and animals that can fly – effortlessly gliding through the air. In real life, of course, no one ...
Bar-tailed godwits can fly about 12,000 km at one time – further than any other known bird. This recent discovery excited ornithologists around the world. Dr Phil Battley from Massey University’s ...
Are you looking for ways to teach forces? If you’re new to the Science Learning Hub, you may want to start with our introductory video on teaching physics. Help, I’m teaching physics Discover ...
Hang-gliders are unpowered aircraft. They maintain flight by employing a flying surface (wing) called an aerofoil. While powered aircraft use their own power source (motor and propeller or jet ...
All flying objects have some things in common. For some things, it is easy to decide if they are flying or not – a bird, a plane, Superman… But for some things it is not as easy to decide – a ...
In this recorded professional learning session, Greta Dromgool and Ted Cizadlo will build your confidence to teach about the Physical World. The New Zealand Curriculum achievement objectives for ...
In this activity, students learn how to make an aerofoil and to make and fly paper planes. In the process, they learn about aerofoil wing shape (found on planes and birds) and experiment with ...
People have always tried to imitate birds. People in legends and fairytales have been able to magically fly, and ancient Chinese, Persians, Romans, Arabs, monks, scholars, warriors and craftsmen ...
In this activity, students explore the importance of wing shape and size and how this determines the flight capabilities of birds and planes. By the end of this activity, students should be able ...
People have long had an obsession with flight. Characters from legends and fairy tales often have the surprising ability to take off from the solid Earth and glide effortlessly through the air ...
Different wing sizes and shapes allow fliers to have specific flight capabilities. Match birds and aircraft with similar capabilities.
In this activity, students handcraft a glider from balsa wood. In the process, they learn about aerofoil wing shape, glider parts and terminology. They experiment with flight using variables of ...
Gliders and kites both have wings to generate lift. A glider’s wings are aerofoils. Well made kites are also aerofoil wings, which gives them lift. Gliders Gliders are planes without a motor ...
This interactive explores the science concepts that underpin knowledge about birds’ physical features and how they help birds live in their environment.
In this activity, students discuss what things can fly and how this happens. They work towards identifying some key characteristics of flight. By the end of this activity, students should be able ...
In this activity, students will learn about some kite history and how kites fly before making and flying a kite themselves. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: use some kite ...
In this activity, students use an online interactive or paper-based graphic organiser to consider how wing size and shape influences the specific flight capabilities of both birds and aircraft ...
Explore the science concepts that underpin knowledge and understanding about birds and their structure, function and adaptations. The New Zealand Ministry of Education’s Building Science Concepts ...
