Unit Lesson Plan #3

Mini-Unit Title KIte Design

Content & Grade Aeronautical Engineering 6-12 Grade
Driving Question Why are kites able to float in the sky?
Model/Product A model of how a kite remains stable, and a kite product to show the application
Phenomenon/Utility A kite flying
Content Area & Aeronautical Engineering 6-12 Grade
Grade

Lesson Title How do we tie the string of the kite to maintain balance?
Lesson Length 8:45-10:10 AM
Resource(s) Youtube Videos

1. Show two videos of kites, one that is stable, and one that falls from the sky, presenting the
driving question.
Overview of this 2. Introduce the center of gravity activity
Lesson 3. Introduce the center of pressure activity
4. Bring up the original video and look at the differences between the kites
5. As a class draw diagrams for the two kites

Previous Lesson This Lesson Next Lesson

Students explore static Students learn what the Cp and
Coherence / equilibrium and balanced forces. Cg of an object are, and then
Continuity: figure out how different knot
orientations affect the flight of
the kite
Students will use the physics
concepts over the last three days
to revise their kite with
intentional changes

State or National MS-PS2-2

Standard
Mathematical Using mathematics and computational thinking
Practice or Science & Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engineering Practice
Lesson Key Idea(s) MS-PS2-2: Motion and Stability
SWBAT explain what the center of pressure and center of mass are
Lesson Objective
SWBAT find the effect of the bridle knot on a kite
Lesson Essential / Why do some kites stay in the air, and others fall?
Driving Question
Materials 20 dowels and scotch tape, 2 box fans
(item & quantity)
Technology Implementing objects in class
(How will technology
enhance learning?)
Suggested Handouts 16 of both bellwork/exit ticket sheet and the Cg and Cp lab
& Teaching Resources
Adaptations/ Instructions on whiteboards
Accommodations
Lesson Assessment Informal: The class will come up with the effect of different bridal knot placements on the kite
(Informal & Formal
Formative
Assessment)

Launch
(Whole class discussion)
Teacher: So let's recap, what have we learned over the last two lessons? Do you remember what we
learned about forces two lessons ago, how would you describe a force?
Students: We learned what forces were: they are a push or a pull that acts on an object changing its
motion.
Teacher: What did we learn last class from the balloon balancing act?
Students: We also learned that when the forces on an object are the same in two directions, the object
becomes stable, and won't change its motions.
Teacher: That's right, so why do we want to know these things?
Students: We want to know why a kite flies
Teacher: why is that useful?
Students: Understanding how a kite works will help us design it better.
Teacher: Yes, When we are designing kites or rockets, it's important to understand how the vehicle will
act when it is functioning. To be able to apply what we have learned so far, we need a little bit more
information. To give some context has anyone heard of or done I-Fly?
Students: idk
Teacher: We are going to watch a video of someone in an I-Fly wind tunnel. As you watch this video, look
at what happens when the person in the video changes their body position. Write down your
observations. This person doing the tricks is kinda like a kite because they have both wind forces and kite
forces acting on them, and we are going to use what we can observe about this scenario to help us
understand how a kite works.

Show the video of the ifly guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Telo6Cr0chk

(Turn and talk)

Teacher: What did you notice about the people in the i-fly wind tunnel? What happened when the flyer
layout vs when they stood up?
Student:
Teacher: Do you think that wind acts only on one point, like if I was to push this with my finger, or
distributed it across the whole object?
Students: Whole object
Teacher: How do you think we could draw this on a force diagram?
Students:
Teacher: Well, unfortunately, knowing that wind acts over a large area does not help us design things very
well, there has to be a way to simplify this force, or rockets and kites would not exist. I want you to think
about this, and write down your thoughts as we watch another video of a jet pack.

Show the video of the jet pack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHk13Xa8dqI

Draw diagrams for both situations and have students tell you where the forces act

(turn and talk)

Teacher: How was the guy riding the jet pack able to fly?
Students: The wind coming out of his hands and backpack pushes him along.
Teacher: How would we draw that on a force diagram?
Students:
Teacher: How are the two force diagrams similar, how are they different?
Students: They both are floating, but they have different forces acting on them
Teacher: So if they both essentially do the same thing, do you think we can use the jetpack to summarize
the i-fly experience?
Students: Yep
Teacher: Yeah, great deduction, today we are going to be looking at how we can use this information to
answer where should the knot on the kite be tied.
 (use catch and release technique with questions on the board)
Teacher: Let's think real quick, what are the forces acting on our kite? What did you put on your force
diagrams at the end of our last class?
Students: wind, gravity, and the string
Teacher: Which of these forces act only in one place on the kite?
Students: String
Teacher: What about gravity and wind, we already talked about wind being distributed over the object,
what about gravity?
Students: …
Teacher: Think about it this way, if I break something in half, do both objects fall?
Students: yes
Tacer: So does that mean that gravity only acts in one place, or over the whole object like the wind?
Students: DIstributed to the object
Teacher: So, like when we were looking at the guy on the jet pack, do you think we could find a place
where we could summarise the location of the added-up little forces that act over the whole object, let's
call it the center of pressure? I'll give you a hint, the last lesson helps out a lot, where on the balloon do
we say the force is coming from? How did the balloon act when we added weight right below this point?
Students: we could find the reactive force from the equilibrium
Teacher: What if I balance a marker on my finger? When I try to balance the marker at different points,
which of these points do you think gravity can be summarised to be acting through?
Students: That's where gravity acts
Teacher: So we can use equilibrium to find where distributed forces act if we use forces that only act in
one location… interesting. For today’s activity, we are going to use this knowledge to find where gravity
can be summarised at one point (called center of gravity) and where the wind force can be summarized at
one place called center of pressure. Like we just said we can find the place where gravity acts by
balancing something on our finger. We can use a similar process to find the center of mass by tying a
Explore string around the object and placing it in front of a fan, or by taping it to a dowel. If it turns, the string is
not tied at the center of the wind force, but if it does not rotate that point is where the wind force can be
summarized. I want everyone to try this for a couple of objects in the room, and also with the kite you
made. You will record what you find on a paper I will pass out. If you need help please ask.

Demonstrate how to find Cp and Cg with a first object

Have the group with the most helpful Cp and Cg come up to the board and write the locations of their Cp
and Cg.

Teacher: Now that you have had a chance to play around with summarising distributed forces, we can use
this information on our kites to figure out how to keep the kite in equilibrium. So from the lab what did
you observe about the location for the center of mass and center of pressure on your kites? I want
everyone to mark the points where the center of pressure and center of mass are on your kites. What
would happen if we now have the forces that the wind puts through these objects acts on these two
points? I am going to show you some orientations and I want you to decide how the kite will move, and
how you want to stop the kite from moving with a single force.

Show slides of different CP and Cg orientations Have students come up with expectations for how the
kite will move, and how they would stop these movements. If the students are having a hard time
getting these answers, have them use their pencils as the kite and have them pull where the two forces
are at.

Teacher: Ok, now that we have had a chance to see how the placement of the wind force and gravity
force affect how the kite acts in the air, we now need to see how we should palace a knot to help our kite
stay stable in the air. We are trying to reach equilibrium with our kites while they are flying, and our Cp
and Cg give us the information we need to be able to balance all of the forces so that the kite will not
rotate and crash. So, how should we tie a string to the kite? Or more specifically, where would we need to
put a force on our kite( approximately) to make sure it stays in equilibrium? Talk with the people close to
 you and figure out how you would help to keep the kite from rotating if the wind force and gravity force
are where you found them to be on your kite.

Give the students 5 min to discuss

Teacher: So where do we need the force of string to be on the kite?

Students: Towards the front of the kite
Teacher: How would we tie the knot to make this force? Shows Three different knot locations
Students: Towards the front of the kite
Teacher: Why?
Students: The front string pulls more than the back string, making the force pull towards the front of the
kite.
Teacher: That's right! And this is how you should tie the knot on your kite.

Share and
Teacher: Great job in class today, Let's draw one last diagram of the kite on our worksheet. make sure to
Summarize
label where the force of gravity acts, the wind acts, where you should tie the knot on the kite, and the
Overview:
force that string creates.

Throughout this lesson, questions drive the exploration. We are trying to figure out the specifics of Cp
Elements of
and Cg and how to use this information to change the angle of the kite to fly well. The students constantly
PBI
reflect on the previous new information to develop their ideas further. Critique and revision are also
heavily implemented as the class continues to iterate their kites.

This lesson anchors learning uses students' ideas as resources, builds in complexity over time, uses
discussion as a class to move forward, makes visible models and products to show the rest of the
class.

This lesson uses stimulating phenomena to drive the inquiry. The lesson is driven by a driving
NAUTeach
question. Engineering practices are also used frequently to make the lesson meaningful in the
Instructiona
context of the discipline.
l
Framework
The lesson teaches towards a clear learning goal, lets students reason, and construct public records,
elicits and responds to students' ideas as they make the kite, Allows students to be sense makers,
and encourages explicit instruction.

Discourse moves will be sued to facilitate student discussion, and questioning is used frequently.
Participation structures will also be used to get more of the class engaged.

*At least one day will need to include technology that enhances student learning*