Fly Like An Eagle

Paper Airplane Test

Working with Others, Oral Communication, Reading Text, Document Use and Numeracy are five of the Essential Skills you will encounter during the next phase of this activity.

1. Remember safety is extremely important. Make sure the area you are working in is free of any obstructions and people. Never throw a plane directly at another person, especially if the plane has a sharp, pointed nose. You will need to use the length of the classroom for this activity.
2. Place a line of masking tape on the floor away from the target area (at least 6 m). Refer to Figure 2.
3. The Air Traffic Controller should get a stopwatch and a metre stick from the teacher.
4. The Pilot should stand at the line of masking tape with his/her paper airplane.
5. The Air Traffic Controller gets the stopwatch ready to go and tells the Pilot when to throw the plane (start timing once the plane has left the Pilot’s hand). Note: The Pilot should be aiming the plane towards the target area.
6. When the plane lands on the ground, the Air Traffic Controller should stop the stopwatch and record the time in seconds in the table of observations.
7. After the plane has landed, measure the distance between the line of the masking tape and the plane in the table of observations.
   [Note: we are only measuring the horizontal distance the plane travelled, it does not matter how high the plane flew]
8. Repeat the experiment two more times and record the data each time in the observation chart.
9. Repeat these steps for the remaining two planes. Be sure to switch roles of Pilot and Air Traffic Controller. Sign your name beside the appropriate role.
10. Remember to keep your planes because your team will be presenting the winner of each category to the class.