From Bird Wings to Planes: Bernoulli’s Principle (LS-TR-417)
In this learning scenario, an interdisciplinary approach between physics (science) and the principle of bird flight (nature) is applied. Students recognize that many technological developments were inspired by nature.
The power of the interdisciplinary approach
By making connections between various learning subjects (in this case, science and nature), students get to know many new perspectives and see the learning subject through different angles. With this learning scenario, students also develop their self-confidence skills, deepen their vision and are able to make cross-curricular connections. We used gamification method with the help of online tools such as Kahoot for providing an interesting and engaging learning environment.
Why can birds fly?
The learning scenario was implemented with primary school students aged 10 years old. They learned about Bernoulli’s Principle (greater airspeed – lowers air pressure), related to a wing, which explains how birds can fly. Moreover, the students learned that Bernoulli’s principle can also be directly derived from Isaac Newton’s Second Law of Motion.
Studying STEM with Europeana
This learning scenario offers a nice perspective on the use of Europeana resources. The students learned that they could find many scientific resources by using Europeana web portal, including books and photos related to mathematics and physics, even though the portal mainly contains the items of cultural heritage. Students are also introduced with the copyrights law and informed that not all the data found on the portal can be reused.
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CC BY-SA 3.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana.