The activities developed for this project use the wind tunnel as a research tool allowing students to conduct experiments to broaden their understanding of aerodynamics and engineering principles. Hands on experiences are essential for a complete understanding, especially in areas of engineering. These aeronautic principles can be demonstrated and experimented with by means of simple and readily available materials such as cardboard, thread, yarn, plastic or glass tubing, scrap wood, wire, construction or heavy paper, plastic soda bottles and scotch tape. Activities have been developed to help the student understand the basic concepts of aeronautics and engineering. Hands on experiences include exploring the relationship between lift and drag, plotting airfoils, streamlining models, and collecting and reducing data for comparison.
Emphasis is on simple experiments and materials.
For each activity there is an overall goal, a list of discussion concepts and an explanation of the activity. The teacher then modifies and adapts the objectives depending on the expectations for their particular class groups. All activities have been reviewed by Professor Schleimann, Chair of the Department of Education, Tufts University to ensure that the activities are appropriate for student age, grade and their respective level of manipulative and cognitive abilities. A material list and procedure follows each objective. The student makes predictions prior to wind tunnel testing for each experiment.