The concept activities, science challenge, and assessment sections focus on the application of instructional design strategies and tactics to facilitate learning among diverse learners. The target audience for the educational sections of the Research Aircraft is grades 9-12.

The concept activities are presented on two levels to accommodate for individual ability differences and experience levels found in classrooms. The science challenge is designed to support the National Mathematics and Science Content Standards and to provide an opportunity for the learner to apply the concept to a novel situation. Finally, the Learning Windows Section serves as an assessment tool which the educator and student can use to evaluate achievement level (s).

Materials	Plastic straws, one strip of paper 1.5 cm x 9 cm, one strip of paper 2 cm x 12 cm, tape, rule tape measure
Procedure	1. Make a loop out of each strip of paper, overlapping the ends and taping them inside and outside of the loop. The over-lapped ends will form a pocket into which you can slip the straw. 2. Experiment with the loops in different positions along the straw. Try it with the loops on the top and the bottom. 3. Test loop airplane three times, measuring the distance flown in cm.
Discussion	1. Where is the center of gravity of your loop plane? How did you find out? Where is the CG range on your loop plane?   2. How and where do you hold your plane to launch it? Why? What happens if you try to fly it the other way around?   3. Is the fact that the straw is hollow important? Try plugging one end. What happens to the balance and center of gravity?

Mathematics Extensions

A. Make a class graph of the maximum flight distance for each student. Calculate the mean, median, and mode of the distances measured.   B. Make a frequency table showing the distances flown (maximum for each student). Determine the range of the set of numbers.   C. Discuss the probability of a plane falling short or exceeding the mean distance flown.

Mathematics Definitions

1. The median is another important measure of central tendency. In general terms, the median is the middle number when the measure meets in a data set are arranged in ascending (or descending) order.   2. The mean of a set of quantitative data is equal to the sum of the measurements divided by the number of measurements contained in the data set.   3. Once a satisfactory model has been developed, test for distance as before, using partners and allowing three trials.

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