Binks Forest Elementary School third-grader Matthew Thoman was recently recognized by the Palm Beach County School District physical science department, winning third place for his science project.
“My science project was to find out if the wing size of a paper airplane affected the flight and distance of the plane,” Thoman said. “We made a launcher for the paper airplanes, because if we threw them, the power would not be the same. My hypothesis was that the smaller the wing, the farther it [the plane] would go. We figured this out by taking the surface area of each of the four planes and measuring the average of their final distance. What I discovered is that none of them stood out the best. So there are other things that affect the paper airplanes than just the wingspan.”
Through his project, Matthew learned that his hypothesis was not correct, and that is what science is all about — discovering if one’s thinking is right or wrong. Binks Forest Elementary School is proud of Thoman for his work.
ABOVE: Binks Forest Elementary School third-grader Matthew Thoman shows off his district award and prize.
