The Courage to Soar

Aviation is an interesting field of real-life adventure where problems are solved through experimentation and research. The area of aviation research, technology, and development is constantly growing, and many marvels in this field await our next generation. Through this unit, students will read several selections about aviation, research topics of interest, conduct scientific experiments, construct aircraft, and make connections with prior knowledge. The Courage to Soar has been designed for students in third through fifth grades, and, with some minor modifications, it will interest and challenge grades six and seven as well. Even though the content is primarily science, the activities are rich in the language art skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For many of the lessons, a student text with a vocabulary list is provided for guided reading instruction. In states where science subjects are mandated, teachers may use this guide to meet their language arts objectives while presenting enriching science activities to their students. This educational guide is made up of ten activities, which are divided into one or more lessons about the topic. The objectives and national standards are given at the beginning of each activity. However, the location of the material lists and the pre-lesson instructions varies. For some activities, these are given at the beginning of the activity and include the necessary materials and instructions for all of the lessons in that activity. For other activities, the lists are simply too long, so they are included at the beginning of each indi?vidual lesson. The procedure for each lesson is always given with the lesson. When student text and vocabulary are a part of the lesson, they are located after the procedure. Special homework instructions, patterns, diagrams, charts, etc., are located with the lesson or at the end of the activity. The activities in this guide have been divided into lessons that generally represent one class period of 1 to 11/2 hours. Teachers should feel free to modify these lessons to meet the needs of their students, and to vary the length of time needed to complete each one. The preparation times to gather the materials and follow the pre-lesson instructions are listed at the beginning of each activity. The approximate teaching times for each lesson and the subjects that are emphasized for each lesson are listed there as well.