Flight objectives.
The iFLY STEM Program for Middle School aims to instill the following in students:
- Increase awareness of exciting STEM careers.
- Learn how STEM is used in the real-world.
- Understand the nature of fluids and how they exert forces on solid objects.
- Use algebraic thinking to understand proportional relationships.
- Use decimal, scientific notation, and unit conversions to do calculations.
- Graph and interpret results.
- Understand variability, uncertainty, and error in experimental results.
See the power of the wind.
Watch physics in action! Students will witness flight instructors interacting with objects in the wind tunnel and will discuss what forces are at work. Next, students will predict how fast each object will fly in the wind tunnel, test their predictions, and discuss the results.
Understand velocity.
In a classroom experiment, students use scales and measuring tape to measure the mass and surface areas of balls. Next, they’ll calculate the theoretical velocity of each ball and examine the differences between the actual velocities they observed in the wind tunnel.
Resources for Teachers and Educators
- BROCHURE / Share this overview with parents and administrators.
- TEACHER’S GUIDE / Review a description of the field trip experience.
- STANDARDS ALIGNMENT / Determine where a field trip to iFLY fits into your curriculum.
- PRE-TRIP PRESENTATION / Prepare your students for a fantastic experience.
- PRE-TRIP PRESENTATION SCRIPT / Here’s a script to go with the slides.
- INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION / See the slides our STEM educators use.
- LAB WORKSHEET / See what we’ll investigate in our hands-on lab.
- POST-TRIP ACTIVITIES / Reinforce what your students learned.