The eighth graders in Mr. Tyrone Bennett's aerospace technology and bridge design classes at J.W. Dodd Middle School completed lessons on the four forces of flight and the forces of compression, tension and torsion. The final component of the lessons involved students using the aerospace technology they had learned to design and construct paper planes with a goal of flying them 200 feet or more. The second stage was to gather and compare data on the reasons the planes flew at different lengths.
The students were also challenged to design a replica model of the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge. Bridge design students first designed their models, then created the model Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge, which was required to have proper weight distribution and the ability to withstand the different forces that act upon a bridge.