My students need tissue paper, scissors, and a heat gun to design, build, and fly hot air balloons.
$217 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
From kites, to balloons, to airplanes, rockets, and steam-powered pigeons. Long have humans desired to obtain the gift of flight.
My students will be challenged to design, build, and fly hot air balloons.
My school is a public junior high school serving 7th and 8th grade students in the heart of central Arizona.
The students at my junior high school come from a wide range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, with about half of the students eligible for free or reduced lunch. The ethnic breakdown of students is 49.1% Latino; 40.4% Caucasian; 6.4% African-American; 3.0% Asian; and 1.1% Indian.
My students are classified as honors and gifted students. They thrive on inquiry/problem based,hands-on activities and lessons with a purpose. They ask many in depth questions and are quick to draw inferences from their experiences. They do not require much repetition to achieve mastery which allows us to investigate concepts with greater depth and complexity. They will engage in detailed discussions expressing strong opinions.
My Project
The hot air balloon design challenge is the first in a unit on flight in which students will eventually design and build origami gliders that float on a wave of air, parachutes, and two stage air pressured bottle rockets.
Working in design teams, students will use large sheets of tissue paper to design and construct hot air balloons. The students will have to apply engineering design process skills, precision measuring tools, quality workmanship, and their creativity to build the "best" hot air balloon.
As students apply these skills, they will come to understand the concepts of gas expansion and density, metric measurement, surface area to volume ratio, and the effect of varying size and scale.
From an historical standpoint, students will learn about balloon development, from ancient Chinese Kongming Lanterns, to the Montgolfier Brothers first successful human flight, to modern day hot air balloons.
This activity will integrate science, math, engineering, and history.
The hot air balloon design challenge will give students an authentic experience applying Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics through an engaging and hands-on activity.
Students will come to view the knowledge and skills they learn in school not as separate academic disciplines segregated from everyday life, but as an integral components of the human experience.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Prichard and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
