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Goal

Project Goal: Implementing Flight & Space to Increase Student Achievement in STEM

Our project aims to enhance student achievement in 8th grade science by implementing the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Flight & Space curriculum. This engaging, hands-on program immerses students in real-world engineering challenges, helping them develop critical thinking, data analysis, and scientific reasoning skills that directly support state science standards. 

 

Category

CTE Focused -  

 

What will be done with my students

Lesson 1: Flight Students discover the science of flight and use aerodynamic concepts to explain how aircraft fly. Students receive an introduction to the engineering design process, investigate the effect of different airfoils on flight, use maps for navigation, and explore flight crew scheduling criteria. In the end-of-lesson project, students design and build a prototype of an aircraft and create a flight plan based on an assigned challenge scenario. Challenge scenarios relate to crew scheduling, maintenance problems, or route changes.

Lesson 2: Space In this lesson, students investigate how scientists and engineers play a vital role in space travel, space discovery, and daily life in space. They explore concepts including launch, orbit, landing, health in space, and how to maintain a stable living environment for astronauts. In the end-of-lesson project, students follow the engineering design process to design, build, and test an improved prototype of a system of their choosing.

Lesson 3: Destination - Mars Students work in teams to design and model different aspects required to complete a mission to Mars. Students collaborate to solve the problems and present their findings. The mission includes planning the astronaut crew, rocket specifications, crew daily activity schedules, Mars landing site, and Mars landing vehicle.
 

 

Benefits to my Students

Increased Engagement and Achievement: Hands-on activities such as airfoil design, space habitat design, and Mars lander design promote active participation and enthusiasm for science, leading to higher learning gains and improved proficiency on science benchmarks.
Development of Critical STEM Skills: Students learn to collect, analyze, and interpret data while building and testing models. This boosts their scientific reasoning, data literacy, and ability to design experiments—core competencies for academic and career success.
Enhanced Teamwork and Communication: Collaborative projects require students to work in groups, present findings, and share conclusions, strengthening social-emotional learning and professional communication skills.
Career Exploration and Confidence Building: Exposure to engineering pathways helps students discover interests in health and STEM careers, fostering career confidence and motivation. 

 

Budget Narrative

The following budget narrative summarizes the key items and supplies requested for PLTW Flight & Space curriculum implementation and describes their direct impact on the project goal of increasing student achievement through hands-on engineering.

PLTW Flight & Space Kit: The PLTW Flight & Space curriculum utilizes a variety of consumable materials to support hands-on engineering, scientific investigations, and student design projects. Materials include cardboard, craft sticks, straws, balloons, rubber bands, string, fishing line, tape, and glue for constructing and testing models. Additional supplies, such as baking soda, vinegar, activated charcoal, gravel, pH paper, and filtration materials, support scientific experiments and investigations. The kit also includes modeling clay, cardstock, markers, plastic cups, and protective gloves to support classroom activities, prototyping, and experimentation.
 

 

Items