In this activity, students use an online interactive or paper-based graphic organiser to consider how wing size and shape influences the specific flight capabilities of both birds and aircraft.
The activity helps students practise the science capability ‘Interpret representations’.
Wings for flight
Falcon
Hawk
Glider
Helicopter
Spitfire
Albatross
King vulture
Spy plane
Godwit
Airbus
Swing-wing bomber
HummingbirdSoaring
Speed
Gliding
Havering
Manoeuvering
Endurance
Unused items
- Falcon
- Hawk
- Glider
- Helicopter
- Spitfire
- Albatross
- King vulture
- Spy plane
- Godwit
- Airbus
- Swing-wing bomber
- Hummingbird
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- identify and discuss some flight capabilities shared by birds and aircraft, such as soaring and hovering
- use wing size and shape to match a bird species1 and an aircraft to a specific flight capability
- consider how designers have observed and adapted2 birds’ wing shapes for use in modern flight technologies.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Related content
The articles Wing loading and Wing aspect ratio explain how the shapes and sizes of birds and planes determine how they might perform and what they might be capable of doing.
Related activity
The activity Birds and planes extends some of the science ideas introduced in this activity and provides opportunities to calculate wing loading3.
- species: (Abbreviation sp. or spp.) A division used in the Linnean system of classification or taxonomy. A group of living organisms that can interbreed to produce viable offspring.
- adaptation: A change in the structure or function of something. In biology, a change in a species, as a result of natural selection. Individuals with a particular feature (adaptation) are more likely to survive and reproduce than individuals without this feature.
- wing loading: The loaded weight of an aircraft or weight of a bird divided by the total surface area of the wings.
