The Wright Brothers' Flying Evolution

In this lesson, students explore the process and development of the Wright brothers’ earlier flying apparatuses leading up to and including their first sustained, controlled flight of 1903. They will analyze images from the Library of Congress Web site related to the Wright brothers’ aviation and investigate the flight process of the Wright brothers and the important steps they made during their design process. 

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

The learner will explore the early flight process of the Wrights, explore images from the Library of Congress Web site related to the subject matter that they are studying, and complete picture analysis worksheets. Each group will investigate one of the steps in the flight process and combine that step with other steps to produce a timeline of the important steps the Wright brothers made during their design process.

Essential and guiding questions: 

How did the Wright brothers’ methodical, systematic process in building the airplane demonstrating the steps in the engineering design process? 

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying
Extension suggestions: 

Helpful Hints

MATERIALS:

  • PowerPoint presentation
  • Engineering Design Process Worksheet (H1)
  • Picture Analysis Worksheet (H2)
  • Picture Bibliography Page Worksheet (H3)
  • Poster Board (cut in half, long ways)