Wright Brothers Lesson Plan: Innovations, Discoveries, and Impacts

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Wright Brothers, and supports students ’ understanding of the role perseverance plays in scientific innovation. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display images of a Wright Brothers-style glider airplane, and a modern airplane, like those shown below:

Ask students:

  • What do you notice about each picture? 
  • How are the planes alike? How do they differ?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the Wright Brothers topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Gadgets,” “Real Life,” or “Trivia.”  Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Assign the Wright Brothers Challenge and Quiz,  prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about the Wright Brothers while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Create a mini-documentary describing how the Wright Brothers responded to challenges they faced in developing the airplane. 
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map that identifies how the Wright Brothers used what they learned from others, and from their own attempts, to refine their airplane.  
  • Creative Coding: Code a flag that represents the Wright Brothers’ experiences designing and building airplanes.  

More to Explore

STEAM collection: Continue to build understanding about engineering and innovation with more BrainPOP topics, resources, and games.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4