This lesson plan provides a flexible framework that can be adapted to fit various aviation or engineering topics while aligning with the Curriculum for Excellence learning experiences and outcomes. By encouraging collaborative problem-solving and creative thinking, this activity allows students to explore the future of aviation and develop valuable skills for their future endeavours.

Subject: Interdisciplinary (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

Year Group: Primary 5 to 7 (ages 9 to 12)

Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Experiences and Outcomes:

• SHG0-08a: I can explore different ways of solving problems creatively.
• TCH 0-09a: I can work collaboratively with others, sharing ideas and resources effectively.
• MTH 0-13a: I can use my understanding of measures to estimate and solve problems in familiar contexts.
• LIT 0-15a: I can communicate my ideas clearly and coherently using appropriate language and vocabulary.

Learning Objectives

• Students will be able to identify potential challenges faced by airports in the future.
• Students will be able to work collaboratively to design and build a model of a sustainable airport that addresses these challenges.
• Students will be able to present their design and explain how it overcomes the chosen challenge.

Materials

• Large pieces of cardboard or construction paper
• Recycled materials (paper tubes, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, etc.)
• Scissors, tape, glue
• Markers, crayons, or coloured pencils
• Pictures or diagrams of different airport features (runway, terminal, control tower, etc.)
• Information cards about potential airport challenges (e.g., rising sea levels, fuel shortages, increased passenger demand)

Lesson Time: 90 minutes

Lesson Outline:

Introduction (15 minutes):

• Brainstorming: Begin by asking students what they know about airports and their importance. Write their answers on the board.
• Future Challenges: Introduce the concept of future challenges by discussing how the world is constantly changing. Show pictures or videos of real-world challenges faced by airports (e.g., flooding, delays, crowded terminals).
• Problem Presentation: Introduce information cards outlining different potential challenges faced by airports in the future (e.g., “Rising sea levels threaten the runway!” or “We need to find cleaner ways to power airplanes!”).

Group Work and Design Time (45 minutes):

• Group Formation: Divide students into small groups of 3 to 4.
• Challenge Selection: Each group randomly draws an information card with a specific future challenge.
• Brainstorming Solutions: Encourage groups to discuss the chosen challenge and brainstorm ways to overcome it in their airport design.
• Building the Model: Using the provided materials, students begin constructing a model of a future airport that addresses the chosen challenge. They can incorporate different features like elevated runways, solar panels, or eco-friendly airplanes.
• Collaboration and Communication: Encourage students to work together, share ideas, and problem-solve throughout the building process.

Presentation and Reflection (30 minutes):

• Group Presentations: Each group presents their model airport to the class, explaining their chosen challenge and how their design addresses it.
• Peer Feedback: Encourage other students to ask questions and provide constructive feedback on each presentation.
• Reflection: Facilitate a class discussion about the challenges they encountered and the importance of designing for the future. Encourage students to reflect on the different skills they used during the activity (e.g., teamwork, creativity, problem-solving).

Differentiation:

• Provide additional support for younger students by offering pre-cut shapes for their models or simplifying the information cards.
• Challenge older students to incorporate more complex features into their models or research specific technologies related to sustainable aviation.

Assessment:

• Observe students’ collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving skills during the group work and model building.
• Assess the clarity and comprehensiveness of their presentations.
• Use a self-reflection worksheet or individual interviews to gauge students’ understanding of the challenges and their learning experience.

Extension Activities:

• Research famous architects and engineers who specialise in designing airports.
• Write a short story about a future journey through the newly designed airport.
• Create a poster campaign raising awareness about the importance of sustainable airports.

Subject: Science (Physics and Chemistry)

Year Group: S1 / S2 (Ages 12 to 14)

This lesson plan provides a framework for engaging S1 and S2 science students in applying scientific knowledge to tackle the challenge of sustainability in aviation. By encouraging research, critical thinking, and scientific communication, this activity allows them to explore the scientific basis of flight and contribute to innovative solutions for a cleaner future.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Experiences and Outcomes:

• SCN 1-42a: I can investigate scientific ideas and problems through practical enquiries.
• SCN 1-43a: I can analyse scientific information from a variety of sources, including scientific reports, multimedia and websites.
• SCN 1-44a: I can present my findings in a clear and well-structured way using scientific terminology.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to analyse the scientific principles governing aircraft flight.
• Students will be able to evaluate the environmental impact of current aviation practices.
• Students will be able to research and propose scientifically sound solutions to a specific future aviation challenge related to sustainability.

Materials:

• Computers with internet access (for research)
• Whiteboard or flipchart with markers
• Sticky notes
• Information cards with descriptions of various future aviation challenges focused on a scientific aspect (e.g., “Develop a new fuel source with higher energy density but lower carbon footprint” or “Design a more aerodynamic wing structure to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency”).
• Basic scientific equipment (optional, depending on chosen challenge): Scales, graduated cylinders, simple balances, balloons, paper airplanes (for demonstrations)

Lesson Time: 90 minutes

Lesson Outline:

Introduction and Scientific Principles (20 minutes):

• Demonstration: Begin with a brief demonstration or video clip illustrating the basic scientific principles of flight (lift, drag, thrust, gravity). Use simple models like paper airplanes or balloons to explain how these forces interact (optional).
• Energy and Efficiency: Discuss the concept of energy consumption, efficiency, and its crucial role in aviation. Explore the use of fossil fuels in powering airplanes and highlight their environmental impact.

Challenge Introduction and Research (30 minutes):

• Environmental Concerns: Introduce the concept of sustainability and the environmental challenges faced by the aviation industry.
• Challenge Selection: Introduce information cards outlining different future aviation challenges with a scientific focus (e.g., “Develop a lighter and stronger material for aircraft construction to reduce weight and fuel consumption”).
• Research Time: Divide students into small groups of 2-3 and assign a specific challenge card to each group. Provide them with access to reliable online resources or library materials relevant to their assigned challenge. Encourage them to research the scientific principles involved, explore existing solutions or technologies, and brainstorm potential strategies.
• Group Work and Design Development (30 minutes):
• Solution Development: Using their research findings, each group develops a solution to address their assigned aviation challenge. This could involve alternative fuel options, innovative aircraft designs, or advancements in materials science.
• Scientific Basis: Emphasise the importance of scientific evidence and reasoning behind their proposed solution. Encourage them to explain how their solution addresses the scientific principles involved in flight and fuels.
• Scientific Drawings or Models (Optional): Depending on the chosen challenge, students can create basic scientific drawings or models to visualise their solution.

Create basic scientific drawings or models to visualise their solution.

Presentations and Class Discussion (30 minutes):

• Group Presentations: Each group presents their assigned challenge, their proposed solution, and its scientific basis. Encourage clear communication and technical vocabulary usage.
• Peer Review and Discussion: Allocate time for questions and constructive feedback from other groups, focusing on the scientific reasoning behind their solution.
• Class Discussion: Facilitate a class discussion about the different scientific principles and technological limitations involved in achieving a sustainable future for aviation.
• Reflection: Briefly discuss the importance of scientific advancements and collaboration in tackling complex environmental challenges.

Assessment:

• Observe students’ understanding of the scientific principles of flight and energy consumption.
• Evaluate the scientific reasoning and evidence presented in their research and proposed solutions.
• Assess the clarity, accuracy, and technical language used in their presentations.
• Conduct a short quiz to gauge their understanding of the challenges and potential solutions.

Extension Activities:

• Research and compare the properties of different alternative fuels, such as biofuels or hydrogen, and their potential for aviation.
• Investigate the role of new materials science in developing lightweight and high-strength materials for aircraft construction.
• Design a poster campaign aimed at raising awareness of the scientific principles behind sustainable aviation practices.

The charity had 3 weeks to organise 2 events. This short timescale meant they faced challenges and had to come up with workarounds:

• Finding representatives from the aviation industry who had time at short notice 
• Finding a college who could host an event 
• Getting agreement for students to miss some lessons 
• Strike action that prevented some stakeholders from taking part 
• Finding a time that worked for both industry and education over the next 3 weeks

This highlighted the importance of building relationships ahead of starting a project like this. It would have been very difficult to arrange events in 3 weeks if the charity hadn’t already had connections with local colleges and other organisations.

Finding a venue

To find a college to hold the event the charity needed to create an agenda that would explain to the potential host colleges what the event was for and what they would be doing. 

Because they work with colleges all the time, the charity already had existing relationships to pull on. Unfortunately, many colleges had existing plans and couldn’t authorise the release of students for the event, even if they could have hosted it. 

A colleague at CPC had a contact at a local college, so the charity was able to use that college for their first event. The college contact already knew about the projects aims, which made it easier to get their help.

Finding attendees

As part of the same project, CPC were working with a service design agency to carry out research into the aviation industry’s skills gap problem. Because the design agency had interviewed the heads of various companies in the aviation sector, they had contacts that the charity could use. 

The charity could expand their network in this way because the design agency and charity were talking to each other even though they were working on separate parts of the project. The new connections complemented long-standing relationships the charity had with organisations like the Royal Air Force (RAF). 

Finally, the charity carried out an ‘industry mapping’ exercise (by searching LinkedIn and other websites) to find extra attendees that made the event more appealing and diverse.  

Don’t be shy, just reach out. You’ll find people’s email addresses and phone numbers. Emailing is quick, but people like hearing a voice. You can pitch it as important for building corporate culture, for corporate social responsibility, or for recruitment. If you can figure out what the event means for them, you can make it a very easy sell. 

Unexpected problems

Some out-of-the-blue situations threw extra barriers in their way. All the college students they were hoping to work with suddenly became unavailable. But the charity discovered that Foundational Apprenticeship and Senior Phase school students could still attend. This highlighted the importance of being agile, responsive, and focusing on finding solutions. 

Obviously, school students don’t have the same knowledge of chemical processes that an engineering student would, so we revisited the agenda.

Through tweaking, tuning, and pulling on favours from industry the event went off smoothly.

To do this the writers:

• Invited 5 members of the project team to join the card sort
• Created a virtual whiteboard with columns labelled Must-do, Should-do, Could-do, Won’t-do
• Wrote each of the 40 or so user needs we identified from our research on a virtual sticky note
• Made a copy of the whole set of sticky notes and gave each copy a different colour
• Assigned a colour to each participant
• Asked everyone to drag and drop each user need card into one of the columns. 

They spent about 30 minutes on this exercise.

They wrote definitions for each category, to try to make sure everyone was working on the same basis:

• Must-do = the guide will not do its core job if we do not address this user need
• Should-do = the guide will do its core job, but it will be less useful if we do not address this user need
• Could-do = the guide will be fine in most situation if we do not address this user need, but it would be more complete in certain situations if we did
• Won’t-do = out of scope, either because it is a minor user need, or it is a ‘Could’ or ‘Should’ that we do not have time, budget, or expertise to address right now

Here is what the virtual whiteboard looked like at the end of the exercise:

This screenshot is just to show you what a completed virtual whiteboard might look like. Don’t worry, you aren’t meant to be able to read the individual cards!

They analysed the results to come to a consensus on which priority to assign to each user need.

They decided to focus on the ‘Must-do’ and ‘Should-do’ user needs for the first iteration of this guide.

Sometimes there was a clear consensus on which category a user need belonged in. But other times, people differed wildly in their categorisation.

They talked to each other, and it turned out that although they had defined each category ahead of time, people had interpreted the guidance differently.

In particular, some people categorised needs based on how important each need is to the users. This makes sense, as in user-centred design we usually put users first!

But for this exercise, they were trying to decide which user needs were the most important to include in this guide. There are some problems that are extremely important to the users, but are impossible to solve with content like this guide. Even though from a user point of view they might be ‘Should-do’ or even ‘Must-do’, you can’t include something in ‘Must do’ that you simply cannot do.

We recommend making this distinction clear at the start of the exercise!

A team of 4 people worked on the affinity map, so this was a group activity. But because the 4 people worked different schedules, they also worked individually. They had regular check-ins to discuss and align their work.

They:

• worked online using the virtual whiteboard Mural, as they weren’t all in the same place
• followed the 6-stage process described in this guide
• had gathered a lot of data, so even with 4 people it took them 2 weeks to complete their affinity map

They identified a number of robust research themes and groups. These were used to spark discussion with the client and other stakeholders, and in the rest of their research.

• As you are organising and grouping your notes, make copies of your notes and move the copies to their new groups. Having a copy of the original state of your notes will let you to trace the origin and journey of your research data.
• Don’t be afraid to create new virtual workspaces, the sheer volume of objects can slow down the boards. Spread things out across more than one!

The agency wrote discussion guides for their research interviews. The aims of the interviews were to understand:

• the direction of the aviation industry in the Glasgow area
• the current and future needs of the aviation workforce
• the respective skill sets needed
• possible approaches to future skills development

To do this they planned to speak to 4 groups:

• further education providers
• aviation industry leads
• airport leads
• subject matter experts

The different groups’ different expertise meant that they needed 4 different discussion guides (although they all had the same structure).

First the researcher wrote themselves a short paragraph on the purpose of the interview. Keeping this in mind, they worked on a first draft, starting with the topics that would be covered. For the airport leads discussion guide, these included the aviation industry’s:

• current and future needs
• their respective skill set
• approaches to future skills development

These then became headings and themes for questions to fall under. 

They ended up with 4 themes and 4 questions under each theme. Each question had some extra prompts that the interviewer could use if the conversation seemed to get stuck.

For example:
What do you think will be the skill needs in the aviation industry in 4 to 5 years’ time? 

For example, technical skills to adapt to the transition to zero-emission flight and the changing use of fuel and fuelling. 

Another would be operational automation. Would there be a need for highly skilled roles (specialised training) and also lower skilled roles?

They added an introduction that included:

• Information about the design agency and why they were doing this work
• Background to the project
• What they would cover in the interview 
• Confirmation of the interviewee’s consent

Finally, the team worked together on a couple of iterations until the discussion guide was ready to go!

Two researchers joined the online interview, one to lead the interview and the other to take notes. Sometimes having more researchers than interviewees can create an awkward power imbalance, so the note taker turned their camera off to make the interviewee feel more comfortable.

They started the conversation with questions about the interviewee and their role in relation to the future of aviation. They then mainly followed the script in the discussion guide. But sometimes the interviewee answered a question before the interview got there. It’s fine to skip questions you already have an answer to.

Similarly it’s fine to gently bring an interviewee back to the current topic if they start talking too much about an upcoming one. The first topic in this interview was ‘skills’, and during that discussion the interviewee went on to talk about some of their partnerships with other industries. Partnership was the third topic they would be covering, so the interviewer waited for the interviewee to finish their point, advised that they will come back to partnership, and used another prompt about skills to get the conversation back on track.

It’s also okay to go off-script if there’s something you’d like to dig into more deeply. The interviewee also mentioned some figures about sustainability that the researchers weren’t aware of, so the interviewer noted them down, waited for the interviewee to finish their point, and then reiterated the stat, asking for more detail.

As you learn more about the topic, you might incorporate some of this off-script questions into the discussion guide for future.

At the end of the interview, the lead gave the notetaker the chance to ask follow-up questions. Then they tied off the conversation by asking the interviewee if they had any questions, or if there was anything else they should know about.