Students are introduced to the art of designing airplanes through paper airplane constructions. The goal is for students to learn important aircraft design considerations and how engineers must iterate their designs to achieve success. They learn about the basic parts that can be found on most airplanes, and their functions. They also learn how engineers make small-scale models to test ideas and improve early designs. This prepares students for the associated activity in which they first make and test several provided paper airplane designs, after which they design and test their own paper airplane designs.