This week we were learning about transportation. We decided to investigate airplanes a bit further the last two days and we have used our resources well! I was more than ready to link to the books we used Up, Up, and Away: The Science of Flight by Dr. David Darling, and Paper Planes by Nick Robinson, but in researching these authors I was rather surprised. I can find nothing regarding the book by Dr. David Darling, except for a website dedicated to evolutionary theories in his name. The book we picked up at the library was published in 1991. I found a bit of information about Nick Robinson's Paper Planes, but also found that the publisher Parragon Publishing has taken to removing authors' names off the front of their publications and simply tucking them inside the book somewhere. I thought that was rather rude practice, until further researching Nick and finding that his website features and "adult only" version of oragami. I am sure you can all just imagine me shaking my head in frustration.
So, the resources are really great ones for the purpose they served for us but I wouldn't recommend their authors. The Paper Planes book came in a box set that included the nifty book that tells how to fold paper airplanes into different types. They have pre-printed papers with fold lines marked and labeled in order to easily follow the instructions. We folded a Norton Flyer, which Shayla is holding, and learned through a recommended experiment in the book that if the wings are made larger than the fuselage that the plane flies in circles. The other part of this set included airplanes printed on foam that are popped out, pieced together and flown with a rubber band launcher. We used those planes a couple years ago but I kept to foam diagrams and we made ourselves a cardboard replica of one of them (use foam if you have it as it will fly MUCH better). Lillian is holding the F/A-18 Hornet model which is model number 2 below. We also forgot to put to weight (piece of pinched plastic, metal or putty) on the nose of the plane for balance, but with it being cardboard and not foam I am not sure how effective it would be.
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