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Using spreadsheets to teach aeronautics.


Why don’t we simply fly a passenger jet into orbit? This thought provoking question is at the heart of an aeronautics lesson for 5th through 8th grade science students that is attached to this week’s newsletter. A single Excel workbook (multiple spreadsheets) containing imbedded NASA web flight simulations links, allows students to generate data for an altitude / air pressure data table. The printed data is manually transferred by students onto a prepared grid. Questions about the graph lead to an understanding of the impossibility of simply flying a passenger jet into orbit due to diminishing lift. There is a separate spreadsheet for beginning, intermediate, and advanced graphing skills in order to give the same challenge to a wide variety of student skill levels. Answers to all questions and a teacher notes section is also available. This Excel spreadsheet will run on PC’s or Macs using Windows95 / Excel 5 or later. Give it a try in your classroom!

Add a link here to download an Excel spreadsheet for 'FlyHi'.