Every student brings his or her own unique background knowledge and life experiences to the classroom, as well as his or her own learning style. The integration of the different subjects and varied styles of lesson plans will help to meet the needs of the many different kinds of students that can be in any one class. Some students will be interested in and motivated by one aspect of the unit and not by others. The idea is that whichever subject area captivates a student, this will motivate him or her to take an interest in the other lessons and subjects. By teaching the subjects so closely to one another, the teacher will impress on the students that nothing can be learned in isolation and that everything is related. Once a student fully realizes and understands this, learning and acquiring new information will be an easier and more enjoyable process for him or her, regardless of what is being learned.
Taking Off with Flight Vocabulary
At the beginning of the unit, before delving into the material, it is important to activate the students' background knowledge and to create a foundation for them to work from for the remainder of the unit. The unit can be introduced by sharing with the students the objectives for the unit. Students are much more efficient learners if they have an idea as to what they are to be learning, they need to know ahead of time that what they are doing is going to mean something to them. To find out where the students are regarding their knowledge of flight, begin with a whole-class discussion, asking the students who has flown on a plane before. Only a short discussion on their experiences on planes is needed. Proceed to construct a KWL chart with the class, helping out with prompts if needed:
K W L
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned
About airplanes How do airplanes fly? What I Learned section is filled as the unit progresses.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to fly What made them build an airplane?
Once the students' minds are ready to begin thinking about the physics of flight, the teacher introduces important vocabulary words. This is necessary so that the class can have a common vocabulary, and so the teacher can be sure that the students are always aware of what is being discussed in the lessons.
Introduction of Dragonwings
When introducing the book, explain to the students that they will be learning about some people who were alive at the same time as the Wright Brothers, who have already been discussed in the construction of the KWL chart. Explain to them that Moonshadow and Windrider are Chinese and the two came to America to work. The students should be aware that they are reading this book to gain a different understanding of why people wanted to fly and how hard it was for that to become a reality. At this time, all the new and challenging words from the book do not need be introduced to the students. Some words and phrases should be discussed at this point. Students will be able to infer the meanings of many important vocabulary words through reading the story. For example, the students will realize on their own that an immigrant is someone who leaves their own country to live in another country. Allowing the students to construct their own understanding will be much more meaningful to them.
Beginning Flight Instruction
In order to capitalize on the students initial enthusiasm of the exploration of the question, 'How do airplanes fly?' it is important to get them working with hands on demonstrations and experiments almost immediately after the introductory lesson to the unit. Once the students have completed the first two columns of the KWL chart, they will be ready to delve into a simple experiment that will demonstrate how pressure of air drops as the air moves faster.
Illustrating the Bernoulli Effect
For this experiment the students can work in pairs. Each pair will have two ping pong balls each attached to its own piece of thread. Suspend the balls at equal height about ¾ of an inch apart. Give each pair a drinking straw and tell them to try to force the two ping pong balls apart by blowing through the straw as hard as they can. The students will find that by lining up the straw in between the two balls, the harder they blow, the closer the two balls will come together. Explain to the students that this happens because the harder they blow, the faster the air moves between the two balls, meaning the pressure here has dropped. Since the pressure between the two balls has dropped, the pressure on the outer sides is greater and pushes the balls together. This illustrates the Bernoulli Effect.
Another demonstration of the Bernoulli Effect requires a hairdryer and a ping pong ball. This is best done by the teacher as a demonstration to the whole class. Point the hairdryer upwards and float the ball on the draft from the hairdryer. The ball will always stay right in the middle because air moves the fastest at the center of the jet so the pressure here is low. The pressure surrounding the ball is higher and pushes the ball into the center.
Kites
Tying in with the novel, students will be building kites. Each child will have their own kite to decorate, assemble, and fly. The kites should be decorated in a traditional Chinese pattern such as a dragon or with two large eyes, before they are constructed (it may be possible to involve the art teacher for this particular project). The students will then fly the kites outdoors. Standing with their backs to the wind, the students may need to help a little by running with their kites. They should be led to notice that the kite is lifted upwards by the wind and that the stronger the wind is, the greater the force is that pushes the kite into the air. Some children may make an early connection that an aircraft needs great speed or great thrust to fly. They should be encouraged to verbalize this in the best way they can, using the children's language to help others to learn.
Airfoil and Plane Shape
This is a valuable foundation experiment for the children to do. Working with partners would be best for this activity. Students will make a paper wing by folding and bending a piece of paper to look like the cross-section of an airplane's wing with a flat bottom and a curved top. By attaching their 'wing' to two knitting needles using drinking straws and then anchoring the knitting needles in a block of clay, their 'wing' is ready for flight. Either a table fan or a hairdryer can be used to make air flow past the airfoil, the teacher will remind the students not to push the airfoil up by blowing air underneath it. The airfoil will slide up and down the knitting needles as it flies or stalls. Have the students try blocking the wind with a piece of cardboard or thin notebook. They will see that the wing falls. If the wing does not fall, they are blowing up from below.
Note: In all diagrams of airfoil and lift, the air is shown to be moving rather than the wing. This is for simplicity for explaining the experiments and concepts.
Perhaps the most difficult concept for the children to understand is the concept of drag. The way drag can be minimized is through streamlining the shape of an aircraft. When the air flows smoothly around the plane, drag is reduced. An experiment can be done to illustrate drag, however, this must be a teacher demonstration only and done only with the permission of the principal. Anchor a candle firmly in a candle holder or on a saucer with modeling clay. Light the candle and gently blow on the flame, but not enough to blow it out. Note that the flame bends in the same direction as the wind. That is because there is nothing there to disturb the airflow, and the air can move smoothly. Next time hold a piece of cardboard flat in front of the flame. By blowing toward the cardboard, air will curl around the cardboard and cause the flame to flicker toward the cardboard. The moving forward of the flame shows an air disturbance. An aircraft constructed with the same shape would have considerable air disturbance behind it. Air disturbance behind an aircraft is drag because it slows the aircraft down. Then bend the cardboard into a teardrop shape and secure the two ends. Center it in front of the flame with the rounded end away from the flame. By blowing on the cardboard this time, the students will see that the flame bends over smoothly, away from the cardboard. This shows that the cardboard has not upset the airflow very much and therefore has reduced drag.
Gliders and Paper Airplanes
Gliders, the simplest kind of winged aircraft, and paper airplanes have no source of power, or thrust. As soon as they are launched they begin to fall back toward the ground. In a typical manned glider, the pilot keeps flying by finding rising currents of warm air which lifts the glider. The pilot can control the glider using pedals connected to the rudder of the plane. The rudder is located on the back of the tail and swings left or right depending on where the pilot wants to go. The first person to build and test gliders was the English inventor, Sir George Cayley. In the early 1850's, he made the first glider to carry a person. The purpose of building and flying paper airplanes and gliders with the students is to begin to synthesize lift, weight, thrust, and drag since all these forces are in play with paper airplanes and gliders.
Each student can begin by making a basic paper airplane or their own version of a paper airplane. Students should launch the plane several times like this, recording their observations in a science journal. The students can then begin experimenting with bending the wings and cutting flaps in the wings for different effects which they will record in their journals. Another variable can be added by giving the students' a paperclip for their planes. The students can then begin to experiment with how the weight of a plane changes how it flies, and how even the placement of the weight on the plane (the front of the plane versus the back of the plane for example) changes how the plane flies.
Gliders can be easily and inexpensively purchased or made. They are usually made of light weight materials such as foam or balsa wood and cardboard. Depending on how many gliders have been purchased or made, students may work independently, in pairs, or in small groups. As the children launch the gliders, they should pay attention to the angle in which they point the gliders. The gliders should travel in a smooth curve. However, if the glider looks like it is diving, removing some of the weight from the nose of the glider will produce the desired results (purchased gliders usually come with some sort of weight at the front).
Propeller
An airplane propeller provides thrust in two different ways. It has curved blades which create high-pressure air behind the propeller and low pressure in front of the propeller. This pushes the propellers and the plane forward. Also, the spinning propeller pushes air backward which pushes the plane forward. By making a model propeller, the students will be able to see how the air is pushed backward as it turns. Making the propellers requires simply that the students construct two curved blades (construction paper, oak tag or cardboard will do) and have them spin smoothly. If this is not possible, a table fan can be used instead. Once the propellers are assembled or the fan is in place, suspend some ribbons or crepe paper from the edge of a table or doorframe and spin the propellers (or turn on the fan). The students will eventually notice in which direction they need to spin their propellers to make the ribbons flutter, and what happens to the ribbons when the propellers are spun in the opposite direction. Try turning the fan around to illustrate this concept, making sure to spend some time before the lesson begins discussing the shape of the blades of the fan.
Jet Engines
The first jet engines were created by Frank Whittle, an English engineer, in 1937. Whittle's jet engines never advanced beyond tests. The first jet engine-powered airplane to fly was the German Heinkel He 178 in 1939. The engine for this plane was designed by Hans Pabst von Ohain. Jet engines move the average airliner at 563 to 593 mph (900 to 950 km/h) which is almost the speed of sound. To allow the students to explore jet engines and to realize that there is more power generated from a jet engine than by any propeller plane, the students will work with concepts of escaping gases to produce thrust. It is also important for the students to make the connection that with thrust in flight, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Introduce Newton's Law that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, when the idea of thrust is first presented.
To explore how jet engines work to throw gas backwards and propel the plane forward, the students should work in pairs for this experiment. Each pair will need a balloon, a drinking straw, tape and a piece of thin string. By threading the string through the straw and attaching the string at both ends to the tops of chairs or tables, the students have created a track that the straw can move back and forth on. The balloon should be blown up and attached to the straw on the string, by letting the balloon go, the balloon will slide along the string. The jet balloons work in a similar way to a jet engine. Air being thrown out the back of the balloon pushes the balloon forward at high speeds. By changing how much the balloons are filled up, the students will be able to experiment with speed and distance. Student pairs can compete against one another, noting differences in how the balloons perform.
Powered Flight
This is where the students really have the opportunity to apply what they have learned about flight and create something that will fly with its own power source. Obviously, students will have some limitations, and will have to stick with a type of propeller plane. Remind students that a propeller plane needs a source of power to make the propellers turn. Students should work with their partners to brainstorm different ways to produce power using materials they can find around the classroom. Many students will eventually realize that they have, at one point or another, taken an elastic band, wound it up and watched it spin around with a fair amount of power. Allow the students to draw their models incorporating their source of power in their drawings. The students should then be given the materials they need to build the planes. Model airplane kits can be purchased inexpensively or the materials can be purchased from a model shop. The important part of this is to make sure that whatever the students are building has a source of power. If the classroom's budget is limited, purchasing one model for the classroom will be enough to show the students this kind of flight is possible for them to achieve.
Strategies for the Literary and Multicultural Elements
Incorporating the literature and the multicultural aspects should be done at the discretion of the teacher. While the physics portion of the unit can stand by itself without the reading of the novel or the exploration of the experiences of early Chinese immigrants, the students' understanding and appreciation of human flight would be greatly decreased with their absence.
Depending on the students' independent reading level, they should be assigned to read
Dragonwings
independently. The children should keep Reading Response Journals in which they write down brief summaries of what they have read and including their own reactions. Some children may need more direction or specification. Have the children write down three or more important things that happened in each chapter and tell them to relate one thing from their own lives to what they have read in each chapter. After a while, these children will begin to make connections between their own lives and the readings more automatically. Then in Guided Reading Groups, the teacher should go over the readings using this book as a means to teach the skills the children need. For the purpose of this unit, there is no regimented method to teach the book, it should be used to complement what is already being done during the literacy portion of the school day. It was stated above that the students should read
Dragonwings
independently, but it can also be read only while the students are in reading group, or even as a read aloud for the whole class.
Dragonwings Take Flight
When reading
Dragonwings
with the students, no matter which format is being used, special attention needs to be given to the sections of the book that talk about the creation of the flying machine that the two main characters are building. Chances are, almost all of the children at one time or another have thought about a way that they could make themselves fly. When the students reach the part in the book when Windrider first begins work on his flying machine, have the students imagine and draw their own flying machine. Remind them of some of the physics concepts that they have studied relating to flight, challenge them to use materials that they find around the house or that they could easily obtain.
In the novel the main character starts a correspondence with the Wright Brothers. Ensuring that the students know who the Wright Brothers are, have them write their own letters to Orville and Wilbur. A great extension would be for the students to write the next letter that would have appeared if the novel continued following the lives of Windrider and his son, Moonshadow. Allow ways for the children to connect with the struggle and the passion of these men. By allowing the children to work on their own designs of the paper airplanes and other projects involved with this unit, they will begin to get a sense of struggle, perseverance, and a desire to succeed on their own.
Learning about Chinese Immigration
In the back of the novel, Laurence Yep includes a brief note to the reader about the inspiration for Dragonwings as well as a quick history behind the story. This is a great place to begin when introducing the historical element of this unit. Yep explains that while the book is based on true historical facts, there are no actual historical figures that Windrider and Moonshadow are based on. Yep mentions how little is actually known about the thousands of men who came from China and poured into San Francisco hoping to make their fortune to bring their family back home in China out of poverty. The truth is, there is a limited amount of information on these men. An example of this is evident in the fact that almost every railroad track that was laid between Alaska and Texas was laid by a Chinese laborer, but on May 10, 1869, when the Central Pacific met the Union Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, a gold spike was driven into the roadbeda photograph was taken of the event, and not a single Chinese man was in the picture. Today, there is no memorial for the thousands of Chinese who built the railroad while making a mere $31 a month.
To build a general understanding of Chinese culture as it existed in California during the middle to late 1800s, Guided Reading times should be laced with mini-lessons and facts about the way this group lived. While reading, have the students stop and reflect on the way the Chinese in the novel are interacting with each other and compare those interactions to how the Chinese in the story interact with the white Americans. The students will begin to see startling differences between these two interactions. The historical and cultural portion of the unit can be taught somewhat conversationally. Allowing the students the chance to notice and discuss the culture and the conditions of being Chinese in America will be much more meaningful to the students rather than providing them with endless history lessons covering the same subject. Prompt the students to think about how the struggle of Chinese men in America is like or dislike the struggle of other ethnic groups that have come to America. The students can be sent home to ask parents or grandparents how their own family came to reside in America. The students will most likely hear family stories about the hardships, perseverance, and motivation of their ancestors who helped to establish their family in this country. Have the students share some of the stories that they have uncovered, either in written form or orally, allowing the students to teach each other and learn about the different kinds of experiences that build their smaller community as well as the greater American society.