Teachers, save “Making Twirly Birds (Copters, Whirlybirds)” to assign it to your class.

Today you will build three simple paper helicopters called "Twirly Birds." Unlike a real helicopter, your twirly bird will not have motors to make the blades spin. Due to its special shape, however, the blades will still spin as they fall to the ground. Your task today will be to answer this focus question: What happens to the motion of a twirly bird when the design changes? You will begin this activity with a STANDARD twirly bird. You will compare the standard twirly bird to two modified twirly birds you will make by changing one variable at a time. Directions: 1. Click to watch the video that accompanies this lesson. 2. Click to add this activity to your canvas. 3. Read through all the slides in this activity before you begin your experiment, including the Reference Page. 4. Carefully follow the directions to make the standard twirly bird. 5. After each step of your experiment, stop and complete the chart for that step. Use the tool to write your responses in the chart. Remember to add a of your twirly birds to each page. 6. Take your time in running your experiments. 7. Click the when you have completed all parts of this activity. Happy flying!