Taking Flight

Resource Ideas

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Description

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with our eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"The sky is the only place where there is no prejudice. Up there, everyone is equal. Everyone is free." (Bessie Coleman)

People have always wondered about flight and about space. In this unit, students will have many opportunities to listen to, read, and view different texts related to flight, space, and space exploration - some factual, some imaginary. They will learn how to gather and organize information and how to report and document factual information in different ways.

Curriculum Materials Centre

• Exploring space. Grade 6. Kit #2 [kit] / compiled by Curriculum Materials. --
  [S.l. : s.n.], c1984-1991.
  33 books (various titles).

  Grade level: Int.
  Contents: The asteroids -- Astronomy / Peter Lancaster Brown -- Astronomy
  / Peter Lafferty -- Astronomy adventures -- Astronomy today -- Colonizing
  the planets and stars -- Comets and meteors -- Could you ever fly to the
  stars? -- Could you ever meet an alien? -- Did comets kill the dinosaurs?
  -- The dream is alive -- The Earth's moon -- Exploring the sky --
  Galaxies -- Isaac Asimov's library of the universe, index -- Living in
  space -- Mars : our mysterious neighbor -- Mythology and the universe --
  Neptune : the farthest giant -- The night sky -- Our Milky Way and other
  galaxies -- Our solar system -- Piloted space flights -- Pluto : a double
  planet? -- Projects in astronomy -- Quasars, pulsars, and black holes --
  Rockets, probes, and satellites -- The space shuttle disaster -- The sun -
  - Uranus : the sideways planet -- Venus : a shrouded mystery -- Voyagers from space -- The world's space programs.

• Outer space. Grade 6 [kit]. --- 1 ---
  25 books (various titles).

  Grade level: Int.
  Contents: Black holes -- The distant planets -- Earthwatch -- The
  exploitation of space -- Exploring Venus and Mercury -- The fantastic
  cutaway book of spacecraft -- Final frontiers space -- Flight to the
  stars -- Junk in space -- Living in space -- Living on the moon -- Mars --
  Nebulae -- Our sun and the inner planets -- Saturn -- Small worlds --
  Space -- Space exploration -- Starwatch -- Starry skies -- Superstar --
  They dance in the sky -- Twenty names in space exploration -- Voyagers 1
  & 2 -- Voyagers from space.

Web Resources

• High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. - a copy of the famous poem about the joy of flight. Includes his biography
• National Air and Space Museum - the home page of this institution which boasts the largest collection of historic air and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and space flight.
• History of Flight (Teacher & Student Reference) - commemmorating the contributions made to flight, beginning in 3500 BC until the present.
• What Is Aeronautics (Student Reference) - a great site for students with links to the dynamics of flight and the history of flight
• Space - the definitive site for current information about spaceflight, science, technology, and astronomy.
• NASA Main Page - Everything you wanted to know about Space and Space Travel with links for kids, students, educators, and the media.
• Amazing Space - links to the most recent Hubble pictures, news for educators, teaching tools and astronomy basics
• History of Space Exploration - The definitive record of where we have been in space travel and where we are going
• Chronology of Space Exploration - A great site outlining the events in the order that they occurred

Web Quests

• Centennial of Flight - Rediscovering the Challenges of Flight - A NASA Quest with lesson plans and educator resources. Excellent!
• Flight Web Quest - Explained by use of Paper Air Planes - The student's job is to be an aircraft designer. They are to design and construct a paper air plane which will fly the furthest distance. After they have constructed the best plane they can, they create a PowerPoint presentation describing the process they went through and why they made the choices you did about their plane.
• Space – The Final Frontier - Students investigate the nine planets and compose an essay comparing and contrasting the planet of your choice with the earth, they investigate comets and be able to tell characteristics that make a comet, they analyze an astronaut’s space wardrobe and tell how it protects them and when it is necessary. Finally, they learn about the history of space travel and predict what may be in our future explorations.

Do you have a lesson plan, resource or web site you would like to contribute to this page? Contact us at: Online Learning Centre

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