Students of standard 4 & 5 in team of 3 each get introduced to STEM Based Learning through designing of Air Gliders in a fun way.
INDIA Innovative : Wheels To Fly
Competition : Fly to the Line
Understand the different forces that act on gliders
Understand the correct terms to describe how gliders and aircraft move and
Understand how wings moving at a slight angle can make 'lift'
Understand how control surfaces can guide where gliders go
Students will assemble, design build & test and improve a model glider made from foam board.
Explore the effects of gravity and air resistance through practical experiments
Fly to the line is to introduce students to mechanism of flying and how each glider behaves differently according to design
Understand what the main parts of a glider are called
School Challenge
Top 2 teams for the Fly to the Line, represent the School at Regional Finals
Regional Finals
Schools assemble at regional hubs to compete against each other in a distance flying competition. Teams will also be judged on best overall design.
National Finals
The winning team from each regional final goes forward to the national final. They can make improvements to their design between regional and national finals.
Rules & Regulations
Eligibility
The Competition is open to students in Year 4 & 5 . Students involved in the regional and national competition events must be in eligible year groups between September 2017 and July 2018.Large schools can sign up all their eligible classes to the competition and will receive a free resource pack for each eligible class. Small schools with mixed Junior classes can sign up Year 3 (Primary 4) and Year 6 (Primary 7)students and receive free resources to enable all students in a classto engage with the activities but these schools can only put forward students in the eligible year groups to regional heatsand the finals.
Sign up dates
Schools that want to be involved and receive free foam board resources must sign up their classes before the end of the Autumn term. Applications after Dec. 31st 2018 will not be eligible for free resources and may not be able to be accommodated by the regional hubs hosting the regional heats.
Team sizes allowed at regional heats and finals
Schools can only put forward one student team from each eligible competing class to regional heats and finals. A student team size of 3 is recommended and any team/s travelling from a school attending regional heats and the Finals must not exceed 4 students.
Responsibility for supervision and transport
It is the responsibility of competing schools to supervise student teams and to arrange travel to and from regional heats and finals on the dates required. The competition online community has collaboration and communication tools to enable schools to contact each other to take advantage of shared travel opportunities but competition staff cannot arrange travel and supervision of students to and from events.
Free resources eligibility
Schools that sign up classes before the end of the Autumn term will receive one free resource pack containing 10x 5mm A3 biodegradable foam board for each eligible class they sign up. This is enough foam board for 10 teams of 3 to make 10 gliders.Additional foam board resource can be readily bought through the online community store for schools that want to include cycles of prototyping and major redesign
In school competition
Competing schools must hold an in-school competition in advance of the regional heats to identify the team whose glider glides the longest distance and that will go forward to represent the school/class at heats and finals.Teams should have at least three attempts to fly their glider and the longest distance achieved wins. There is a supporting printable for in-school competitions in the resources section of the online competition community.It is recommended that schools engage students in several rounds of flight testing before a final in-school competition so that student have an opportunity to fully evaluate and improve their gliders.A school hall should be sufficient size for an in-school competition or outside on a windless day.
Permitted modifications
Gliders may need balancing with weights and have trim tabs or ailerons and rudders added to fly correctly. Adjusting and improving the glider is a key part of the competition and such modification is encouraged.Possible modifications may include;streamlining leading and trailing edges, of wings, using card or paper tabs to change the air flow around the glider or adding plasticine/modelling clay weights (ballast) at the nose or tail to help balance the glider.In all cases the final glider design must be predominantly made of foam board and any paper and card or clay type materials cannot be used to complete or extend the wingspan or replace any major parts of the glider design (i.e.wings, fuselage and the horizontal and vertical stabilisers)The total aerodynamic modifications for a competition glider can only use one piece of A5 card or paper and add no more than 50g of extra weight Judges will review designs before flight and if they feel designs are not substantially a ‘foam glider’ they may not permit the glider to compete in the competition. The decisions of judges are final.
General safety restrictions
Gliders should have no sharp or metal parts or other features that could cause injury or damage if they fly into people or objects. At heats and finals, competition officials will check the gliders and will not allow unsafe gliders to fly.
Throw heights
In any competition round, all gliders should be launched from the same or similar height above the ground.Ideally this should be around 150-180 cm. Wherever possible, accommodations should be made for any students who may have difficulty reaching the chosen throw height.
Students own work
While teachers are expected to guide and challenge students with new ideas and thinking, in the spirit of fair competition, competing gliders must be the product of student activity. Race officials may ask questions of students about their design decisions and the process of construction to ascertain this.Invitation to the Finals and awarding of prizes is at the discretion of regional hub competition officials
Spare gliders and repairs at competitions
Teams are permitted to bring more than one glider to the competition in case of accident or breakage. These must be identical or very substantially similar designs.Tape, glue and other resources useful for repairs will be available at competition venues for making any running repairs and minor modifications between flights.Under no circumstances should teachers and student teams bring knives and other sharp tools to the competition venues
After school and lunchtime clubs and other non-classroom teams
The aim of the Typhoon Glider Competition is to engage as many students as possible with a design and engineering challenge.Schools are therefore strongly encouraged to involve whole classes although in some situations this may not be possible. Entries from school clubs are welcome although the competition cannot guarantee to supply free classroom resources to such teams. Foam board resources can be readily purchased for club activities through the online competition community.Supervising teachers should support clubs and ensure they follow all the safety guidance and competition rules. Teachers must also ensure that only eligible students take part in competition events