Find programs and mentors near you with CYSTEM (Check it out!)
Are You Into It?
Do you want to learn about flight or space? It’s all about the moving through air and space in this project. Whether you’re flying kites, hot air balloons, airplanes, or rockets, or reaching for the stars with astronomy. Learn about our universe, galaxy, and what’s beyond the Milky Way.
- Develop an interest in and understanding of science, engineering and technology.
- Develop problem solving and logical reasoning skills.
- Improve communication and teamwork skills by working the way scientists and engineers do - in teams.
- Develop responsible attitudes about science and how science relates to the real world and people’s lives.
- Gain experience in problem solving and decision-making using science process skills.
- Develop knowledge and skills related to Aerospace.
Here’s what you can do all year!
Starting Out Basic / Level 1
- Make paper airplanes
- Identify different types of aircraft
- Learn how weather affects flying
- Learn star constellations throughout the year … and the stories that are told about them
Learning More Intermediate / Level 2
- Make and launch model rockets
- Learn the forces that act on a rocket and experiment with roll, pitch, and yaw
- Build a balloon shuttle
- Use your investigation skills to discover the principles of flight, rocketry, and astronomy
- Design your own experiment and enter your results in science and technology fairs
Expanding Horizons Advanced / Level 3
- Use engineering principles to design your own air- and space-crafts
- Construct an altitude tracker
- Learn pilot certification requirements
- Learn about airport issues in your county or across Iowa
- Learn the science behind science fiction
Take It Further
Project Hot Sheet
- Aerospace (pdf)
Fair Exhibit Tip Sheets
Tip sheets are used by judges to evaluate your exhibit. Use them to help make the best presentation of your work. Choose a tip sheet based on your project's intended purpose.
If your project:
- Is intended to inform its audience about a topic—use Poster Exhibit Tip Sheet (pdf)
- Represents an engineering solution to a problem—use Engineering Exhibit Tip Sheet (pdf)
- Represents a scientific investigation of a question—use Scientific Investigation Tip Sheet (pdf)
- Uses technology to accomplish a task or render a service—use Using Technology Tip Sheet (pdf)
Other Opportunities to Explore:
- Attend a star-gazing program at a local planetarium.
- Attend Iowa 4-H Youth Conference and participate in workshops, motivational speakers and a community service project, bringing ideas back to your community.
- Is it county fair time? Consider taking an exhibit, a piece of your project learning to the fair for judging and to show off what you’ve learned throughout the year. It might get selected to go to the Iowa State Fair.
- Enter your science experiment or engineering design in a local science fair or the State Science + Technology Fair of Iowa.
- Contact your local ISU Extension Office for other local workshops, activities, and events.
- Meet others interested in aerospace. Check out camps at the Iowa 4-H Center.
Interested in a college education in the area of aerospace science or engineering? Schedule a visit with Iowa State University to explore those majors.
Step It Up
Pass it on! Now that you know how, share it with others. Here are ideas to get you started.
- Have a kite flying workshop.
- Demonstrate what it takes to build a model airplane.
- Compare paper airplanes, how you make them, how they work, and why.
- Complete a Service-Learning project
- Help clean-up your local airport.
- Volunteer for a Young Eagles club.
- Give others tips to fly smoothly and get through security in airports.
- Join a pilot or aerospace club.
- Hold a rocketry day camp.
- Bring your club to the local airport to learn more about airplanes and pilots.
- Agriculture & Natural Resources
- Creative Arts
- Family & Consumer Sciences
- Personal Development
- Science Technology Engineering & Math
- Project Helpers
Iowa State Engineering Kids
Science Center of Iowa
Rockets Away- Ohio 4-H
Windows to the Universe
Iowa Aviation Museum
Mid-America Air Transportation and Aviation Museum
Team America Rocket Challenge
Experimental Aircraft Association
Iowa Department of Transportation
Space Telescope Science Institute
Federal Aviation Administration
- Build a rocket
- Demonstrate how weather affects flying
- Make learn to fly posters to hang around the community
- Compare birds with airplanes
- Create a typical pilot's log and tell why it's important
- Demonstrate different types of aerodynamics on kite flying
- Research hot ballons and how they work
- Make a wind glider and demonstrate how it works