FOSTORIA—Ron Bowerman is a firm believer in project-based learning, which is why his physics students are building airplanes this year to learn about force and motion.

The teacher at Fostoria St. Wendelin High School focuses on the subject of aviation to help his class of seniors and juniors connect physics to the real world. Projects integrate elements of aeronautics and even history into the standard curriculum.

The class also ventured into the realm of engineering with a recent assignment to design, build and test a model wing spar, which is the main support beam for the wings of an airplane.

Senior Alex Reineke, right, and junior Brad Kitzler watch as physics teacher Ron Bowerman tests their model wing spar.  (Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens)

During a session in February, students were painstakingly gluing together thin strips of balsa wood to create spars from the blueprints they had drafted.

“We had to research and design our wing spans, and we had to submit our designs to Mr. Bowerman,” explains senior Lauren Walas. Students browsed through designs created by previous students for ideas.

“It’s like real-life research and development,” Mr. Bowerman says.

Working in teams, students pretended to be engineers competing for a contract with an airline company. The contract would be awarded to the group that designed the lightest and strongest spar.

Mr. Bowerman uses a Vernier Force Plate to stress test each spar by applying pressure to it until it breaks. The plate is connected to his computer and instantly transmits the information to a graph that measures the force on the spar at the breaking point.

The newton force is converted to grams to determine the weight held by the spar.

Mr. Bowerman explains Boeing aircraft wings must hold five times the weight of the airplane. For the assignment students assume their model airplane weighs one kilogram, so spars that hold the equivalent of five kilograms or more receive an “A.”

Lauren says she enjoys the hands-on aspects of the project. “Physics is a lot easier to understand if you visualize the concepts,” she adds.

“It’s better than learning out of a book,” agrees junior Maggie Ogborne.

Field trips to the local airport and the home of a St. Wendelin graduate who is building his own airplane have allowed Mr. Bowerman’s students to see their lessons at work on a larger scale.

Such experiences have prepared the class for their biggest project to date: building real airplanes to commemorate major events in U.S. aviation history.

The opportunity comes through a partnership with the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company of Dayton, an educational foundation dedicated to sharing the history behind the Wright Brothers and their airplanes. Mr. Bowerman serves as volunteer director of special projects for the company and as a trustee for the affiliated, nonprofit First-To-Fly Foundation.

Students across Ohio have learned about aviation and history by helping the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company build and fly replicas of aircraft designed by the Wright Brothers. A virtual museum can be found at www.wright-brothers.org.

This summer, a 1908 Wright Flyer replica built by young people around Ohio will be used to commemorate the centennial of the first passenger flight, taken by Ohioan Charlie Furnas. The First to Fly Foundation will recreate that flight July 4 at the Miami County Fairgrounds.

Students in Mr. Bowerman’s class are building 72 wooden replacement ribs, which attach to the wing spar, for the flyer.

An even larger event looming on the horizon is the centennial of the first transcontinental flight, taken by Calbraith Perry Rodgers in 1911.

Responding to a challenge by publisher William Randolph Hearst, who offered $50,000 to the first person to fly across the United States in 30 days or less, Mr. Rodgers crossed the country in the famous Vin Fiz. After 49 days, five serious crashes and a number of other setbacks, Mr. Rodgers landed in California.

A public broadcasting company, WGBH in Boston, has asked The Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. to build a replica of the Vin Fiz to re-enact the coast-to-coast flight for a television special in 2011.

Young people around Ohio are working on the airplane, and students from St. Wendelin were asked to build the ultra-light chase plane that will be used to film the flight from the air.

RotaMax Inc., of Arlington, Ohio, has donated engines for the Vin Fiz replica and the ultra-light plane. Another Ohio company is giving Mr. Bowerman a discount on the kit for the ultra-light, but he still needs to raise $6,250 to buy the materials.

“I want these students to get involved in the construction before they leave,” he says.

Working in a classroom at St. Wendelin next year, his class will bolt the chase plane together and cover it with a synthetic fiber that attaches with Velcro.

“I already figured out that if we build it in there, then we will be able to get it out,” Mr. Bowerman jokes.

After the television special is filmed, the plane may serve an even higher purpose. Nick Engler, director of the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co., is in contact with Masai people living high in the mountains of Kenya, and Mr. Bowerman hopes to donate the ultra-light plane to them. The Masai could use it for medical evacuation, light freight hauling and environmental monitoring of game reserves to prevent illegal poaching and forestry.

Despite the recent violence in Kenya, Mr. Bowerman says he is not giving up on the idea. The plane would likely be ready to go to Africa by fall 2011.

It will be decorated with the coat of arms of St. Wendelin and named “Archangel.”

To donate to the Vin Fiz project, contact Ron Bowerman at 419-299-3807 or 419-722-6628.