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I just finished a new article on a model glider created from a foam meat tray, foam plate, thin cardboard, and a bamboo skewer. If you build and adjust correctly it will fly well. The article includes full-size plans in PDF format, many pictures for instructions, and a link to a short video of the plane in flight. I call the glider, 'Hammer Down' because part of the airfoil is formed by pounding the foam with a hammer.

Hammer Down Glider Article

Take a look and tell me what you think?

Bill Kuhl

Hi Susan, I really try hard to use cheap and easy to find materials for the projects on my website. Many people have commented that they like that. Better gliders could be made from balsa wood, but it would cost considerably more when building a bunch of gliders. Someone created the following lesson for me and I did the drawings, it might be more complicated than what you are looking for but there might be parts of the lesson you could use.

Glider Lesson...

Bill Kuhl

Hi Bill, Last year when teaching about forces I had a team of retired pilots that volunteered at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor here on Oahu come in to talk about planes. They brought in pre-cut bamboo model airplanes for me to teach the kids about the parts of a plane. I read through the article and I love the pictures/directions. Looks simple and something I can incorporate this year even if I can't get that same group of volunteers to come in again. The kids loved learning about the forces of flight.

I enjoy working with what might be considered 'alternative materials' like bamboo. It is my understanding that bicycle frames have been made from bamboo. I built a couple of mousetrap cars from bamboo also as can be seen on this website: Mousetrap Car Article...

Using foam, it will break but seems to absorb more shock than balsa wood. It does not warp when wet and the density is consistent.

Bill

Bill, Very detailed and intuitive article. I feel like the real learning would come out of the students being able to make their own glider, although this looks like no simple task, with plenty of room for error. I can imagine going through all the motions and then being truly excited as me and my group of students run out to the schoolyard to test our gliders, only to find out that we didnt give the wing enough angle or something and the glider barely gets off the ground. I suppose failure in this instance could be seen as a learning experience, but may also be discouraging and time consuming to have a bunch of grounded student gliders. If all goes well, the activity could be a real blast. One could teach the physics of everything in great or sparse detail depending on the age group. Would you recommend this for all ages? If I were to teach my elementary students, would you recommend allowing them to build the gliders, or bringing in a few pre-built ones for them to fly before I go over the basic concepts of flight, motion, lift etc. with them? Thanks for offering.

Royce, Thank you for your comments, I hope to keep improving the article with the feedback I receive. Gliders seem so simple, but small adjustments make a big difference. There is a rather fine line between a glider that dives to the ground or is stalling, that is the up and down glide path. Now if you use a rubber loop to catapult the glider there is much greater speed, hence more lift at the start but the glider needs to transition to slow glide. If you watch the short video I linked to from the article, it can be seen the glider can get rather high and glide well.

As far as age groups, I am hoping younger kids with some help can do well with this. I had a meeting at a local K4 STEM school yesterday, and I suggested we build the gliders as the first activity I will help them with. There are not many pieces with the glider and the foam normally takes more abuse than balsa wood. The wing has to be cut with either very sharp blade or a hotwire so I suggest this is done ahead of the activity. The rest of the parts are cut with a scissors. Even the low temp glue guns are rather hot, so it would be best to have adult help with that.

This wiki I had created gives additional information on using the glue guns:

Tools wiki..

Hope this helps,

Bill Kuhl

If anyone is interested in some of the background I have in designing the foam gliders, I had created a video entitled, 'Fun With Foam Gliders'. To start with I had built balsa prototype gliders and used lighter wood until the glider would break at launch. Then I began experimenting with foam and cardboard construction, learning where I needed to add strength.

Fun With Foam Gliders

Bill Kuhl

Bill, thank you for initiating this thread and for sharing your glider designs. Some teachers may also want to search the Learning Center for resourves on flight and gliders. I find that scanning several resources supports the design of inquiry. Here is an example of one Learning Center resource: Tech Trek: In flight, online By: Robert A. Lucking, Mervyn J. Wighting, and Edwin P. Christmann Grade Level: Middle School I think that I will continue this search and put Learning Center resources in a collection to share among those interested in exploring Bill's article and others. ~patty

Bill- I like this design! I have worked with young elementary students in the northeast with a glider design that has been around for a while. The FPG-9 Glider designed by Jack Reynolds at the National Aviation Museum. Using peer teaching, older students working with younger students, we have used this design successfully with kindergartners. Here is the url for the pdf: http://www.wnit.org/outdoorelements/pdf/plate_glider_instructions.pdf

Attachments

FPG-9_Glider.pdf (0.08 Mb)

Thanks for sharing the link to the FPG-9 Richard. I have used those in workshops and let students modify the simple design also. Some of the resulting gliders looked like birds or X-wing fighters. You can make a more conventional looking plane by using a straw for the fuselage and foam tail surfaces. The hobby shop that I teach classes for has given out a huge number of FPG-9 gliders at fairs, etc. If someone walks into the hobby shop with children in the 6 to 10 age group, there is a good chance the owner will have them leaving with a FPG-9 glider. So I consider my glider as kind of a next step up from the FPG-9, if built and adjusted correctly, it should glider farther than the FPG-9. Bill Kuhl

Hi Bill. I love the resources you share. My middle school kids are dying to do the foam glider activity. I printed the article out and gave it to a few of my second year Design and Engineering students for their review. I told them I wanted them to go through the article, try to visualize it, and then Tuesday next week, we will gather materials and have them be a test group to see how well they were able to build the glider from your directions. Their next task then is to rewrite the directions in the areas where they were tripped up or found unclear. I’ve never seen a group of students more engaged in the actual process or reading an article and sharing suggestions and brainstormed ideas with one another. I will ask them to write up formal feedback and provide their input here. What a great tool for students to read for meaning and purpose. I also love the idea they will be using the application process for solving a problem and finding a solution. I look forward to hearing how others did as well.

Sandy, this is so great to hear, no doubt the instructions can be improved on. I have been planning on improving the article as I build the plane with groups. It would be great if I could use some of the feedback from your students to improve the article. With model planes, tiny adjustments in balance and tweeking the tail surfaces for proper flight path make a big difference. If you catapult launch the glider, there is so much speed at launch that adjustments are even more critical. I have been trimming the foam sides off from the tray with the hot wire cutter shown in the article with pretty good success. Keep me updated, and I will try to answer questions the students may have. Bill Kuhl

I let the kids fly some of my foam gliders at Earth Day event last weekend. Amazing how much fun some of the kids had with the gliders and how good of flights they were able to get. Not all the flights were great but some were and that seem to keep them interested. For the Hammer Down glider, the wing did break after crashing into a stone wall. Putting some tape in the center might solve this, that is how I fixed the glider.

Attachments

EDhammerB.jpg (0.15 Mb)

Wow! This is really cool! Thanks for sharing this. I'd like to say this will be a really great project for my students and my two sons, but who am I kidding, I want to make one for myself! The link gives very detailed instructions and pictures. Great post, it's amazing what you can make out of garbage.

I am having good success with an even simplier foam glider made from 3 foam plates and a plastic straw. Plan to have future article on this. In the last couple of days I found I could make a catapult glider out of this using a paperclip bent up for a hook and get some really good launch height. Instead of hot glue I have been putting these gliders together with masking tape and it is holding together. A curve is put in the foam wing giving it a camber airfoil which no doubt helps performance and makes the wing stiffer. Bill Kuhl

Attachments

Foam_Plate__Straw_Glider.jpg (0.08 Mb)

In the last 1/3 of this 38 second video you can see one of these gliders flying. This was before I did the catapult launch, instead I did a discuss launch which works too. The glider had a slight stall but one can see this flies way better than the FPG-9.

Short Flight video...

Bill, I am always looking for something interesting to "hook" my students---I really like your use of recycling items to create gliders. I also like Sandy's idea of having students rewrite the directions. What you have created is a wonderful lesson that combines basic science concepts with engineering. I hope you plan to submit this to one of NSTA's journals.

Patrica, Thank you for your comments. I will share more about the gliders as the project progresses. Also look at how this could fit with the science standards. Bill Kuhl

Bill, I have been taking one of a series of NASA PDN classes on project based learning. We are working on our own projects as we move through this series of classes. Your glider project would be perfect and you would receive feedback as you developed this in a 7E lesson format http://www.nasaepdn.gatech.edu/

I will be co-teaching a summer science camp. Our theme is a moon expedition, with construction of a moon colony. Of course, if we are on the moon, how will we get around? How would a glider behave differently in the atmospheric conditions and gravity on the moon? We need to understand the forces that allow the glider fly, and the lesson plan provided could provide the basis for some interesting analysis. I am trying to think how I could adapt this very engaging lesson to my moon expedition for middle school. I agree that a 7E lesson format would be ideal. Anyone have any ideas?

I just did some reading on the atmosphere of the moon, it appears there is almost none. Gravity is much lower than earth also. I would doubt a glider could fly at all on the moon but hopefully someone can correct me on this if I am wrong.

I will have to contact NASA and see if they are interested in the gliders for a lesson.

Last evening I started testing a new catapult foam plate glider after the first one flew out of the park I was flying at and was lost. The glider seems rather sensitive to pitch when launching, sometimes it does an arc into the ground and just a small amount of up trim it climbs too much. Maybe something is flexing too much in the launch.

I created a video entitled 'Fun With Foam Gliders' in 2009 which documents much of the testing I was doing at that time. Even the balsa prototype gliders could not withstand the stresses of the catapult launch.

Fun With Foam Gliders

I started creating parts for a bunch of the Hammer Down gliders. It actually is going faster than I thought it would. With some practice the wings can be cut pretty quickly fromt he foam trays. I am interested to see how the kids will do with this project, both in building and adjusting the glider for good flights.

Attachments

166016_10150886586102019_1136526277_n.jpg (0.06 Mb)

Awesome resource, thanks! I've been looking for something to use as part of my unit on experimentation. I've used paper airplanes before and had students vary the type of wings...this glider looks way cooler.

Joanna take a look at this short article also. I started experimenting with gliders made from just foam plates and plastic straws held together with masking tape. Have not had time yet to create and article on this yet. Even made a canard glider in this method that flies well.

Foam Plate Gliders

Bill Kuhl

Thank you Bill for sharing all of your amazing resources! Similar to what others have mentioned, I appreciate your use of recycled materials, as well as your innovative adjustments to the glider. Last summer, I worked with 3rd graders to begin exploring the engineering design process, and used the following lesson as a guide, but I wish that I had found your resources first. http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlnasa/OtherPRINT/poster/ToolsoftheTrade.pdf These gliders worked, but I realize now that I should have had them launch their gliders as they stood on a small flight of stairs, or at some other higher elevated surface. Most of the gliders were successful because the students were throwing them! Your designs seem to be less weight than the designs that we attempted. Can’t wait to try your catapult, and glider made out of plates and a straw!

I am a 3rd grade teacher in Hawaii and I am looking for some inexpensive and fun ways to teach Physics. In our third grade benchmarks, Forces and Motion and Simple Machines are our focus. Since the recent stress on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), I have been trying to find more opportunities for my students to engage in scientific inquiry and design and/or build things while still teaching the benchmarks. I really like the idea of the foam glider. I think I might be able to replicate it, but do you have a template for the wings and such? I was thinking of letting my students just cut out their own based on their ideas about what shape would glide better. Maybe we will look at some pictures or video clips of planes first and discuss the shapes of the wings. I was thinking about tying this in with the scientific inquiry benchmark and force benchmark (recognizing a force as a push or a pull). I think I will have students use the scientific process to develop a hypothesis about which shape of wing might work better and which type of force works best to get the plane in motion (small, medium, or large launch/throw). I think I finally figured out what my lesson for my NSTA Physics class will be. Thanks!

I really need to work again with the foam plate and straw gliders. It seems like in the catapult launch something was flexing after launch and the glider might dive. Launching straight up seemed to work better. A couple of weeks ago I did a speech/demonstration at the local senior center about the pioneers of aviation. It was more about how the ideas of severalpeople came together when the Wright Brothers made the first successful powered flight. I demonstrated how I took the idea of the FPG-9 foam glider and expanded on that in so many ways. One after another I was launching these gliders in front of them to show different ideas. For example, flying wing 3 plates wide was hi-aspect ratio, then the canard glider which was the configuration of the Wright's planes, and then my jet-like foam gliders. Bill Kuhl