PBL with Wings: F117 Stealth Fighter

Today’s Free LifePractice PBL card is a special one for my co-creator, Kevin Honeycutt. He dreamed this project and started running it with kids back in the mid 2000’s, across several schools at the same time.

Get this card!

F117 Nighthawk LifePractice PBL card

The F117 Project

In this project, kids at three different schools were challenged to build a 1/4 scale model of the F117 Stealth Nighthawk. The plane was chosen for it’s teachable geometry and physics as well as the challenges it would pose for the hands on learner. Kids had an hour per day and after school for five weeks to work

on the plane and met with design team from the other two schools to discuss challenges and successes. They could spend only $100 and they had to draw local experts into the project in the form of veteran pilots, model plane enthusiasts, mechanics etc. and document their

learning partnerships on their websites.

See video.

What an exciting project to get kids hands-on with all the positive elements of Project Based Learning!

An additional challenge for advanced PBL’ers

The stealth F117 Nighthawk on an actual runway!

With the realization that Lockheed didn’t make these planes from start to finish all in one location, Kevin decided to add an extra element of challenge for kids asking them to work across schools as well, each school team taking a specific part in the planning of the plane. This causes students to really have to be great communicators and precise with their work. Otherwise, their team’s part of the solution won’t work.

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Building the stealth F117 Nighthawk PBL

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We’re proud to offer this LifePractice PBL card, free today only (April 9, 2013), for those who are interested in trying out the LifePractice PBL recipe cards. It’s an obvious card to use in your Science/Technology/Engineering/Math (STEM) classes, but teachers can add high-quality elements of ELA and Social Science as well.

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Download the F117 project recipe card today and get started. Both Kevin and I are excited to help this project take flight with your kids! Just let us know!

And visit our LifePractice PBL website to learn more about all our PBL lesson plan recipe cards.