Science and Technology K–6 · Kindergarten
Paper gliders: changing the fold changes the flight
Physical World (NSW 2017); Science understanding, Physical sciences (ACARA v9)
The idea
Air holds a glider up: a shape that catches the air stays up longer and travels further than a crumpled sheet.
Safety card
Hazards
- Paper corners near eyes
Controls
- The adult launches from the floor with no stool; learners stand beside the lane; launches aimed down the lane only
Note
No chemicals or heat. Record the activity on the school's risk assessment (Primary School RiskAssess, Ecosolve Australia, riskassess.com.au).
What you need
- 3 sheets of A4 paper per learner: one folded into a dart glider, one into a wide-wing glider, one screwed into a ball
- A 5 m launch lane marked with masking tape every 50 cm
- A mark on the wall at 1.5 m so every launch starts at the same height; the adult launches, standing on the floor, so no stool is used
- A stopwatch (a phone timer) for a second adult or the teacher to time
How to do it
- Predict which of the three will go furthest and which will stay in the air longest.
- The adult holds each shape at the 1.5 m mark and releases it with the same gentle push forward, three times each; learners stand beside the lane, not under the launch.
- A learner reads the tape where it lands; the second adult times from release to landing.
- Record distance and time for all nine launches and circle the middle value for each shape.
- The adult releases the paper ball and the wide-wing glider together, one in each hand, from the 1.5 m mark. Watch which lands first.
- Say what the wide-wing glider has that the paper ball does not.
What you should see
A sheet falling 1.5 m with no air support would land in 0.55 s (t = sqrt(2 h / g), g = 9.80 m/s^2). The paper ball has almost no wing, so it comes down fast, close to that; a folded glider that the air holds up stays in the air longer. A timer started and stopped by hand cannot tell half a second from a little more, because the person timing has to react at the start and at the stop, so the paper ball's hand-timed figures are rough; releasing the ball and a glider together is the clear test, and the ball lands first. Which glider goes furthest and which stays up longest is measured, not assumed. The learner knows it worked when, released together, the paper ball lands before the wide-wing glider, and each glider's middle time is clearly longer than the paper ball's.
What changes
- What you change
- shape of the paper (dart, wide wing, ball)
- What you measure
- distance along the lane (cm); time in the air (s)
- What you keep the same
- same sheet size
- same launch height 1.5 m
- same gentle push by the same adult
- three launches each
Common misconceptions
Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.
- Heavier paper planes always fly further.
- Air is empty and does nothing.
Curriculum references
The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
- Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), NESA. Current syllabus; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare, 2027 start teaching the 2024 syllabus. Code read from the official syllabus document on 2026-09-22.STe-5PW-ST
- Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), NESA. Implementation from 2027, so this code describes the future syllabus. Code read from the outcomes page on 2026-09-22.STE-SCI-01
- Australian Curriculum v9AC9SFU02AC9SFI01AC9SFI02AC9SFI03AC9SFI05
Sources
The pages the author read to write this activity.