● Theme/ Name of Lesson: paperdrop

● Grade Level: 5
● Duration of the Lesson: 40 min
● Name of Instructor: Jason Chudobiak

Focus: construction and design with a focus on drag and aerodynamics

Unit materials:

Resources for instruction: computer paper

Connection to program of studies:

Lesson Objective (SMART): Students will design and test designs to keep their designs in the
ari as long as possible

Essential Question for the Lesson: How can students design something for the softest
landing.
 Instruction

Teacher will… Students will… Time

Intro:

I think we need to revisit our respectful listening. I

don’t feel like all of you understand what this means.

What does respectful listening mean? Have we

been doing this?

Today we will be doing a challenge to make a piece

of paper fall as slowly as possible. This is the paper
drop challenge.

Body:

The rules for this are simple. We are going to drop a

piece of paper and time how long it takes before it
touches the ground. Sounds simple, right? Your job
is to make it stay afloat as long as possible.

You will be able to use scissors, you will be able to

use tape and you will be able to use paperclips.
However, your final design will need to be one
complete piece of paper. If you cut a hole in it, you
will need to use the piece that you removed in your
design.

You will not be able to just tear off a corner of the

paper and toss it. I already thought of that. You will
need to show how you used your full piece of paper
on your design page.

You are encouraged to make prototypes and test

them before you create your final design.

Do we have any questions?

You will be graded on the effort you put into your

design, and how much effort you put into your
paperwork. I have noticed that your paperwork is
simple one sentence answers. I want to know why
you did something. And I don’t want, “because I
thought it would be cool” I get it, I have made
decisions because I thought it would look cool, but
did it work? Did it go the way you planned? Or are
you just killing time till it’s time to go home? I want
you to think about your design choices. They make
a difference. This is your one class where you don’t
have to regurgitate some answer or memorize
something. You get to use your imagination and
create something.

Keep in mind, we are dropping them, so paper

airplanes are a bad idea. I’m saving you all a lot of
time and heartbreak. This is not a paper throw, it is
a paper drop.

This will be an individual challenge. Because of this

we will need almost triple the amount of time to test
everyone. This means that your design and building
phase will have to be done today. Tomorrow's class
will have a small window for building your final
design, then we will be timing to see how long they
take to fall.

Mrs. Rosentreter will be the one dropping them so

there is consistency.

Lesson 2

Have paperwork ready so they can record their

time.

I hope we are ready to work today because you will

have 5 minutes to complete your final design then it
is going to be the testing phase. I hope you all are
as excited as I am.
Students will be on the
stage waiting for their
Now, because there are a lot of you, and this is
results and tossing their
individual testing, we are going to need to be on our
creations once tested.
best behaviour. This means we all will need to be
paying attention to when our time to test is on so we
Colouring sheets will be
don’t miss our times. Also, we want this to go as
available for those who
smoothly as possible and if we are all paying
can’t sit still.
attention this will not take all day. I want to get out of
her just as much as you do. Agreed?

Do we have any questions? Then you have 5

minutes. Make sure you put your name on your
designs so Mrs Rosentreter can read whose design
is who’s.

You will need a writing utensil to record your results.

We will be testing them from the balcony in the

foyer. You as students line up your designs on the
floor next to Mrs. R. She will call out the name. She
will give me a countdown and let it go. I will read out
your time and you will record it on your paperwork
record sheet. It is up to you to record your time.

If you are having a hard time sitting still watching

your teammates, I have provided a colouring sheet
to keep you occupied until your turn is done. Any
questions?

LESSON 3

So today we have our paperwork debrief. How did

we feel about our experiment?

I’m going to ask a lot of the same questions that I

asked in the previous challenges.

How can this be used in real life?

What implications does this challenge have in the

real world?

How did the restrictions I placed on this challenge

affect your designs?

What would you do differently with the information

you now have?

Why did I give you a colouring page about a

parachute?

Tell the story about air taking up space. How does

air taking up space affect this challenge? Use a
plastic bag if needed.

Conclusion:

What did we learn about gravity?

What did we learn about air resistance?

Formative Assessment (What will you look for to know students are engaged and
learning? How will you know if your outcome is being met?)

Reflection:
Paper Drop Drop Time_________ Name__________________

Do you feel you were successful in this challenge? Why or why not?

What did you find to be the most difficult part of the challenge? Why?

Describe what your design looked like. Why did you choose that design?

Did you like working on your own for this challenge? Why or why not?

Sketch your design on the back of this sheet.