Paulo’s Parachute Mission(Aerospace Engineering)

By: Bethany Walshe and Sara Hatcher

Story Plot Paulo’s parents move him to a

new town in Brazil. He is missing a few fingers on his

hand, so he feels awkward about meeting new friends.

He becomes friends with Lucas, a neighbor, regardless though.

They go to collect “capuacu,” a fruit, together to make ice cream.

The fruit breaks because it is falling too fast towards the ground.

They build a “paraquedas” to protect the fruit as it falls to the ground.

They are successful!!

Directions for Building Parachute 1) Find a good place to launch parachute 2) Choose different materials to test 3) Figure out which material is most

successful at slowing a parachute 4) Draw your plan 5) Create plan 6) Test the plan at least three times for

accuracy 7) Improve parachute and see how

changes affect the parachute

Materials Stop Watch Strings Scissors Tape Aluminum Foil Tissue Paper Copy paper Small Object Measuring tape Plastic Bag

Our Parachute

Suggestions Overall this was a good project. The children

would need to be read the book because the words are difficult.

The book also did not do a good job of explaining feet per second when an object is falling. So, the teacher would need to quickly explain how the students need to record the time the object is falling.

There also may need to be a ladder to drop the parachutes off of because very few schools have stairs like the book recommends. Children absolutely would love testing this in class.

Engineering Design Process

The project easily covers the all aspects of the design process because students have to:• Ask: How to build a parachute?• Imagine: Which materials would be best?• Plan: Draw the plan for the parachute before

building• Create: Use the materials to create a successful

parachute• Improve: Figure out how it make the parachute as

successful as possible.