Interdisciplinary Aviation Activities

This collection of activities from Education World engages K–12 students in exploring aviation principles and history. At every grade level (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12) students can conduct experiments about air flight, design model airplanes, research aviation history, and more. The provided lesson plans feature suggested adaptations for younger and older audiences as well as links with additional aviation resources such as websites, videos, and publications. 

For example, Wind and Wings (Grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8) presents simple hands-on activities that demonstrate Daniel Bernoulli's principle of air pressure and air flight. In Design a Paper Airplane (Grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8), students hone their engineering design skills as they plan, design, create, and test various paper airplane models. Aviation Firsts Scavenger Hunt (Grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8) teaches aviation history as students develop computer research skills, while Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame (Grades 3–5, 6–8, 9–12) combines students’ research, writing, and science skills in a student-created display of aviation history.

Touchdown Engineering Activity

In this activity for grades 3–8, students use what they know about gravity, motion, and forces to design and build a shock-absorbing system to protect two "astronauts" when they land. Just as engineers develop solutions for landing different vehicle types on the Moon and Mars, this activity has students follow the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to design and build a shock-absorbing system out of paper, straws, and mini-marshmallows; attach their shock absorber to a cardboard platform; and improve their design based on testing results. The lesson plan, which was developed by educators from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, includes information on activity management, background, procedures, discussion, assessment, and extensions. Of particular interest is the printable Engineering Design Rubric, which teachers can use to help evaluate students’ progress in understanding the steps of the EDP (e.g., identifying the problem, building a prototype, evaluating the design, optimizing the design, and sharing the solution).

Concepts Across the Sciences: Systems and System Models

What are systems and systems models? Library of Congress Einstein Teaching Fellow Jacqueline Katz explains using the work of Joseph Priestley, a chemist of the late 1700s who explored the composition of air. This activity from the Library of Congress (LOC) blog Teaching with the LOC is most appropriate for middle and high school chemistry courses and would work well at the start of a unit on gases and metabolism.

In the activity, students examine primary source documents—including an image and written excerpts—from Joseph Priestley’s book Experiments and observations on different kinds of air (1774) as a springboard to investigate the meaning of systems and system models. The activity provides opportunities for students to find evidence for their thinking using primary source documents as well as for meaningful class discussions about metabolic processes or the properties of gases that explain the observations Priestley made.

NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program
  
Through this program, preK–12 formal and informal educators and college/university instructors can join National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists aboard an ocean research vessel as a member of the science team. Teachers have sailed on NOAA surveys monitoring our nation’s fisheries, measuring physical and chemical ocean trends, and charting unknown regions of the seafloor. Participants return to their classrooms with firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live and work at sea, illustrated by photos, blogs, and lesson plans. Past Teachers at Sea have taught math, literature, history, social studies, art, and music in addition to science.

Interested educators can preview the application starting on November 1. Applications will be due on December 2.

Summer Project Ice Professional Learning Course

The American Meteorological Society invites applications from K–12 teachers to participate in its summer 2025 Project Ice teacher professional development course, offered as part of the National Science Foundation/Oregon State University (OSU)-led Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX). Teachers will be selected competitively from across the country, with a focus on those educating underserved students. Participants will engage in a graduate-level, multi-week hybrid course in paleoclimatology and ice core science that includes a workshop at OSU in Corvallis, Oregon, where they will engage with COLDEX scientists and visit the OSU ice core lab and Marine Geology Repository. 

Some support for travel, lodging, meals, and tuition will be provided for about 24 selected teachers. The course’s online portion will take place May 27–June 21, 2025, with the on-site residence experience scheduled for June 22–28. For program information and to apply, visit https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/project-ice/how-to-apply/. The application deadline is November 8. For more information, contact Project Ice staff at amsedu_workshops@ametsoc.org.  

Planting Science
 
PlantingScience is a Student-Teacher-Scientist partnership founded in 2005 by the Botanical Society of America. This no-cost program facilitates mentoring relationships with real plant scientists and teams of three to five students in grades 6–12 classrooms. Through asynchronous online conversations, the scientists provide support and encouragement as students design and carry out a plant-focused scientific investigation in the classroom. Teachers will receive free materials that will provide the content information needed, along with support from the participating scientists. 

The next session will run from February to April 2025. Your class can start their projects anytime during the session, as long as they can finish their projects before the session ends. Earlybird applications are due by December 15; the final deadline is January 15, 2025.