Students investigate how forces like gravity, drag, push, and pull, along with the fluid-like behavior of air, affect motion by designing and testing parachutes connected to the iFLY wind tunnel experience. Over four weeks, they use fair tests, measurement, graphing, critique, and revision to build science and engineering understanding while seeing how STEM is used in real careers. The learning experience prepares teams to create and present a working parachute prototype, explain their evidence-based design choices, and connect their findings to jobs in aviation, aerospace, and physics.

Students will explain how pushes, pulls, gravity, drag, and air resistance affect motion and describe how air behaves like a fluid that can change how objects move. Students will plan and carry out fair tests by identifying variables, controlling conditions, measuring parachute performance, and recording and graphing data to interpret patterns, variability, and possible error. Students will apply scientific ideas to design, compare, and improve parachute prototypes based on evidence from wind tunnel and classroom investigations. Students will collaborate to present clear evidence-based explanations that connect their design choices and results to real STEM careers in flight, physics, and engineering.

Students work in teams to design, build, test, and revise a functioning parachute prototype, keeping a project engineering log with labeled sketches, variables, measurements, graphs, and notes about uncertainty or error from each fair test. Throughout the project, they also create intermediate products such as first-draft parachutes, data tables, comparison charts, and feedback-based revision plans after gallery walks and coaching from iFLY STEM educators. By the end, each team prepares a tri-fold or digital exhibit that displays the final parachute, design choices, test results, graphs, and evidence for how forces, drag, and airflow affected performance. Each team also produces a short oral presentation or recorded video that explains their investigation, defends their revisions with evidence, and connects their learning to a real STEM career in flight, physics, or engineering.

Kick off with a “Careers in Flight” event where an iFLY STEM educator and a local aerospace or flight partner run hands-on stations on lift, drag, gravity, and airflow, and students match each phenomenon to a real STEM job. Then teams build a quick first-draft parachute from simple materials, test it in a classroom fan setup or short wind-tunnel rotation, and record one variable they changed, one measurement they noticed, and one question they now have. Close with a brief circle talk where students share one claim about how air acts like a fluid, one surprise from the test, and one teamwork strength they saw in their group. This shared experience launches the essential question and sets up the four-week challenge to design, test, revise, and exhibit a parachute prototype.

Host a Wind Tunnel Wonder Expo where teams set up interactive stations with their final parachute prototype, data graphs, testing notes, and a tri-fold or digital display that explains variables, revisions, and how forces and airflow affected performance. Invite families, classmates, iFLY STEM educators, and a local aerospace or flight partner to tour the exhibits, ask questions, and compare how different designs met the criteria and constraints. Include a short team presentation or recorded video at each station so students can explain their evidence-based claims, name sources of error or uncertainty, and connect their learning to real STEM careers. Close with a Science in Flight Celebration in which students rotate as presenters and audience members, leaving feedback and celebrating growth in design, collaboration, and communication.