Aeronautical engineers have used bird wings in creating their own wing designs. Illustrate this fact to your students by printing pictures of planes and bird wings. Find these pictures in your textbook or online. Find wing shapes that mirror bird wing shapes. Print various angles of each picture, if possible, such as a top view and a side view. Make sure to print an entire set for each student. Have your students cut out these pictures and then glue the matching shapes next to each other on a piece of construction paper. Collect these and hang them in the classroom.
Plane wings may be shaped slightly differently, but the general shape of the wing is usually similar. Discuss why wings are wide on back and slope downward. Define terms such as "lift" and "thrust." Tell students that the wind flying past an airplane wing moves faster on the bottom than it does on the top. Display a picture or an animation on a computer overhead to illustrate the concept. Ask students why they think wings operate this way. Discuss what would happen if the shape of the wing was altered and how it would affect flight. Give students participation points for discussing any aspect of the wing.
Give your students 30 minutes to design their own wing shape. Show them various wing shapes before you start and then let them draw a wing on a piece of paper. Let them use colored pencils, markers and rulers. They should design the cross-section that cuts into the air as well as the length, width and overall shape. Tell students to cut their wings from construction paper and then display their wings to the class. Each student should name their wing before hanging them up in the classroom.
Design and build a wing from fiberglass. The wing should be about 6 inches long and 3 inches tall. Pour Jell-O into a plastic container about 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide and store the Jell-O in the refrigerator until the day of class. Open the lid of the container during class and push the model wing into the Jell-O. Push it until it is completely covered and push it slowly. Let the kids see the way the wing cuts through the Jell-O. Discuss the way the wing shape helps it slide easily through the Jell-O and through the air.