Today I began exploring how parachutes work, because although it is Gabe’s learning objective, I was curious about how they work. The basic principle of parachutes is that they create a greater air resistance on the way down, slowing the decent and thus protecting the model rocket from getting destroyed when it lands.
The idea of a parachute is to increase the area parallel to the ground, forcing the object to encounter more air molecules and thus increasing the air resistance. The larger the parachute the greater the amount of air resistance, which is why model rockets only need small parachutes cause the objects are not as massive as a say a skydiver who need much larger parachutes.
Nate's Rocket Science 
While you stated that this was one of Gabe’s topics, I wonder what effect the shape of the parachute has on a descent. Is there a reason for round parachutes to be used over rectangular chutes like sky-divers?
Have you looked into why most parachutes have holes in the top? I know it’s to stabilize them but I wonder about the physics behind them.