Leonardo’s Laboratory

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of history’s great observers.  Leonardo looked at the world with endless curiosity.  He studied plants, animals, rivers, clouds, machines, and the human body in great detail.  Wherever he looked, he saw questions waiting to be answered.  Few things fascinated Leonardo more than flight, and he long pondered the question: Could people learn to fly?

In this unit, students join Leonardo on an Italian hillside as he studies the birds soaring overhead.  Together they will watch wings in motion, examine the shapes of feathers, and investigate the patterns hidden within flight.  Like Leonardo, students will discover that nature often provides the clues needed to solve difficult problems. 

As the unit progresses, students move from observation to invention.  They will design and test paper airplanes, compare different wing designs, experiment with rocket-powered flight, and explore how parachutes can slow a falling object.  Throughout the unit, they will follow the same process Leonardo used in his notebooks: observing carefully, asking questions, developing ideas, and testing those ideas through experimentation.

By the end of the unit, students will have explored many of the forces and design challenges involved in flight. More importantly, they will experience the habit of mind that made Leonardo extraordinary.  He believed that careful observation was the beginning of discovery, and that every question was an opportunity to investigate.  This unit invites students to step into that same spirit of curiosity as they explore one of humanity’s greatest dreams: leaving the ground and taking to the sky.