What flies?
In this activity, students discuss what things can fly and how this happens. They work towards identifying some key characteristics of flight.
Falling, floating or flying
Which things fly? Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether some things are flying or not. A stone ‘flying’ through the air? A hot-air balloon? A hang-glider? How do we decide?
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
identify what can fly and what these things have in common
suggest some possible definitions of flight and what things might fit into these definitions
appreciate that a wing structure is needed for many things to fly
understand that, to sustain flight, the wings must be moving through air.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
student worksheets.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Nature of science
Scientists sometimes disagree and can have different definitions and answers for questions such as “What is flight?” There are not always easy answers. By thinking about evidence and discussing each other’s ideas, they can often come to some agreement.
