Blast Off!

Design Challenge

You are part of a team of engineers given the challenge of building a model rocket launcher and designing and building a rocket that can rise the highest and straightest compared with other student teams in your class.

Criteria 

• Designed to rise the highest and straightest

Constraints

• Use only the kit materials provided

1. Break class into teams of 2-4.
2. Hand out the Blast Off worksheet, as well as some sheets of paper for sketching. 
3. Show students the NASA Beginner Guide to Rocketry (www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/rocket/) and check out the online rocket simulator. Consider asking the students how they think a rocket can fly and how engineers have to consider payload, weather, and the shape and weight of a rocket when developing a new or re-engineered rocket design.
4. Review the Engineering Design Process, Design Challenge, Criteria, Constraints and Kit Materials. 
5. Instruct students to start brainstorming and sketch a detailed diagram of how their rocket will look when completed. They will also discuss how they will work together to build their rocket launcher. They should estimate how high they believe their rocket will travel. They should think about what they can do in their design to ensure their rocket will go higher and straighter. 
6. Provide each team with their kits.
7. Explain that students must build a rocket and a rocket launcher using the provided kit. 
8. Announce the amount of time they have to build (1 hour recommended). 
9. Use a timer or an on-line stopwatch (count down feature) to ensure you keep on time. (www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch). Give students regular “time checks” so they stay on task. If they are struggling, ask questions that will lead them to a solution quicker. 
10. Teams build their rocket launchers. 
11. Test the rockets by following the launching instructions on the rocket launcher kit.
12. Teams should observe and document the flight patterns of theirs and other team’s rockets.
13. As a class, discuss the student reflection questions.
14. For more content on the topic, see the “Digging Deeper” section.

Extension Activity

Have older or more advanced students use an altimeter to measure acceleration as part of this lesson and incorporate g-force discussions.

Younger Students

For younger students TryEngineering.org offers a water pressure rocket lesson, called “Water Rocket Launch” 

Student Reflection (engineering notebook)

1. How did the height you estimated your rocket would reach compare with the actual estimated height? 
2. What do you think might have caused any differences in the height you achieved? 
3. Did your rocket launch straight up? If not, why do you think it veered off course? 
4. Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have preferred to work alone on it? Why? 
5. Did you adjust your model rocket at all? How? Do you think this helped or hindered your results?
6. How do you think the rocket would have behaved differently if it were launched in a weightless atmosphere?
7. What safety measures do you think engineers consider when launching a real rocket? Consider the location of most launch sites as part of your answer.
8. When engineers are designing a rocket which will carry people in addition to cargo, how do you think the rocket will change in terms of structural design, functionality, and features?
9. Do you think rocket designs will change a great deal over the next ten years? How?
10. What tradeoffs do engineers have to make when considering the space/weight of fuel vs. the weight of cargo?

The lesson can be done in as little as 1 class period for older students. However, to help students from feeling rushed and to ensure student success (especially for younger students), split the lesson into two periods giving students more time to brainstorm, test ideas and finalize their design. Conduct the testing and debrief in the next class period.

• Constraints: Limitations with material, time, size of team, etc.
• Criteria: Conditions that the design must satisfy like its overall size, etc.
• Engineers: Inventors and problem-solvers of the world. Twenty-five major specialties are recognized in engineering (see infographic).
• Engineering Design Process: Process engineers use to solve problems. 
• Engineering Habits of Mind (EHM): Six unique ways that engineers think.
• Iteration: Test & redesign is one iteration. Repeat (multiple iterations).
• Payload: Amount of goods carried by a vehicle, aircraft or spacecraft.
• Prototype: A working model of the solution to be tested.
• Rocket: A flying device, shaped like a tube, that is driven by hot gases released from engines in its rear.

Internet Connections

Timeline of Rocket History
NASA Beginners Guide to Rockets  
Virgin Galactic Human Space Flight
NASA Parker Solar Probe

Recommended Reading

Make: Rockets: Down-to-Earth Rocket Science (ISBN: 978-1457182921)
Handbook of Model Rocketry (ISBN: 978-0471472421)
“A Pictorial History of Rockets” (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/rockets-guide-20-history.pdf)

Writing Activity 

Write an essay or a paragraph describing an example of rockets might be used to help society in peaceful times.

Alignment to Curriculum Frameworks

Note: Lesson plans in this series are aligned to one or more of the following sets of standards:  

• U.S. Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962)
• U.S. Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/) 
• International Technology Education Association’s Standards for Technological Literacy (http://www.iteea.org/TAA/PDFs/xstnd.pdf)
• U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=16909)
• U.S. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (http://www.corestandards.org/Math)
• Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science Standards (http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/K12Standards.html)

National Science Education Standards Grades 9-12 (ages 14-18)

CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry 

CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science 

As a result of their activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Chemical reactions 
• Motions and forces 

CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities of technological design 
• Understandings about science and technology 

CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges 

CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Science as a human endeavor 
• Nature of scientific knowledge 
• Historical perspectives 

Next Generation Science Standards – Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14)

Matter and its Interactions

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

• MS-PS1-6. Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.

Engineering Design 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

• MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
• MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Next Generation Science Standards – Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-18)

• HS-ETS1-4.  Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.

Standards for Technological Literacy – All Ages

The Nature of Technology

• Standard 1: Students will develop an understanding of the characteristics and scope of technology.

Technology and Society

• Standard 6: Students will develop an understanding of the role of society in the development and use of technology.
• Standard 7: Students will develop an understanding of the influence of technology on history.

Design

• Standard 8: Students will develop an understanding of the attributes of design.
• Standard 9: Students will develop an understanding of engineering design.
• Standard 10: Students will develop an understanding of the role of troubleshooting, research and development, invention and innovation, and experimentation in problem solving.

Abilities for a Technological World

Standard 11: Students will develop abilities to apply the design process.

• Students and the teacher in charge should read and follow the rocket manufacturer’s instructions CAREFULLY.
• Teachers who have never supervised a rocket launch may want to team with a teacher who has for their first launch.
• Be sure to follow your school’s safety policies.
• Launching can, of course, only be done out of doors.
• Students and others who are not actively involved in launching the rocket should be kept well back. 250 ft is a safe figure.
• All members of the launch team should wear protective eye shields.
• Rockets of the type illustrated are ignited electrically by a pair of wires about 20 ft long. Launch team should stand behind an automobile or other protective barrier.  They could even sit inside the car if necessary.
• Note that an alternate to rocket launch kits would be to use a foot pump and launch an air rocket (using an empty soda bottle or other container for the rocket).