Think Like A Scientist

Ornithopter (from the Greek words ornithos“bird” and pteron“wing”) have a long history in aviation. Ornithopters are machines or aircrafts that fly by flapping their wings. Leonardo  daVinci was very interested in human-powered flight. He spent a great deal of time observing bird, bat, and insect flight. In 1485 he drew detailed plans for a human-powered ornithopter (a wing-flapping device intended to fly). There’s no evidence that he actually built the ornithopter. However, it’s likely that his original drawings and ideas have been used by many modern-day aviation scientists such as the case in the flight of the Snowbird, the world’s first successful human powered ornithopter. On August 2nd, 2010 the Snowbird, the first human-powered ornithopter (aircraft that flies by flapping its wings) to fly sustained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds. The Snowbird was constructed by a team of students from the University of Toronto. Todd Reichert, team member and research student at the University of Toronto piloted the Snowbird during the August 2nd, 2010 flight. To read more about the Snowbird check out the Human-Powered Ornithopter Project website. The Human -Powered Ornithopter Project site includes technical details of the Snowbird, history, team members, photos, and videos.

To view a video of the Snowbird August 2nd, 2010 flight check out this youtube video.

In Science Daily  (September 20, 2010) Pre-k students who spend much of their class day engaged in free-choice play with little input from teachers make smaller gains  in early  language and math skills than children who receive input from teachers in a range of different activity settings. Low-income children do better when a higher proportion of their time is spent in individual instruction settings. The findings are from a new study that appears in the September/October 2010 issue of Child Development.  “If early childhood education is to level the playing field by stimulating children’s academic development, more quality instructional time spent with teachers and less free play time without teacher guidance may prepare children better for starting kindergarten,” Nina C. Chien, a postdoctoral fellow in pediatrics at the University of California , San Diego who lead the study said in a news release from the Society for Research in Child Development.