Especially for Teachers

The Mini Page — 2003 Activities

Aircraft of the Future

This week´s standards:

Students understand science and technology. Students understand the abilities of technological design. (Science: Science and Technology)

Students understand the characteristics of animals. (Science: Life Science)

Activities:

1. Design your own airplane of the future. Draw a picture of it. Write a sentence telling why it is special.

2. Use the newspaper to find three examples of existing products that have borrowed design ideas from animals. How do these products reflect the strengths of the specific animals?

3. Which of the animals in today´s Mini Page have taught scientists about (a) speed, (b) maneuverability, (c) strength and (d) fuel efficiency?

4. Think about an item you use every day that could be improved by morphing technology. Explain how morphing technology would make the item better.

5. Use reference books and the Internet to learn more about new and experimental aircraft. Use these questions to guide your research: How are the new aircraft different from existing aircraft? What new technologies are used? How practical are the new ideas? Which ideas do you think will eventually be used on a large scale? Why?

Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

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