7th Grade Flight of Fancy module spans four challenges — Data, Systems, Visualization, and Design. Throughout, students take on the role of a systems engineer in an aerospace context, making design decisions as they work toward designing their own aircraft.
Students take on the role of engineers at a small design firm responding to a Request for Proposals (RFP) from A+ Airways, a struggling airline. Working in small teams, students research different types of aircraft, build foam gliders, and test six wing configurations.
Duration: ~ 7 50-Minute Class Periods
Students continue their work for A+ Airways by tackling the interior of the airplane. Working in small teams, they explore what makes an airline profitable, research how real airlines configure their cabins for different types of passengers, and conduct a hands-on classroom activity to experience how seat spacing affects comfort.
Duration: ~ 7 50-Minute Class Periods
Students build on their glider work from the Data Challenge by creating a precise 3D digital model of the physical cardstock glider using 3D modeling software. Students measure every part of the glider using calipers and rulers, then translate those measurements into a digital model.
Duration: ~ 7 50-Minute Class Periods
Students apply everything they have learned across all four challenges to design, model, fabricate, test, and pitch an improved wing for the glider. They work as aerospace engineering firms competing for a contract: design a new wing that flies farther than the baseline glider (average 12.108 ft across 10 trials), then pitch their design — including data, 3D model, interior design from the Systems Challenge, and profit projections — to a panel of judges.
Duration: ~ 10 50-Minute Class Periods
