Day 3 activities

Building Model Rockets:

The students learned the basic physical concepts of how rockets and planes work including the concepts of lift, thrust and aerodynamics. The students then proceeded to assemble and personalize their designs. Students enjoyed building their own rockets and decorating them. Some of the comments included: "I learned about lift, weight, drag and thrust." Another student said: "I learned how to make a rocket, and how lift, planes and rockets work." Another student said: "I learned about the aerodynamics of different fins."

Rocket Building 1
Rocket Building 2
Rocket Building 3
Rocket Building 4
Rocket Building 5
Rocket Building 6
Rocket Building 7

For the next two activities, the students went to a large open area on the USU campus to fly their wooden planes and launch their rockets:

Assembling and Flying Wooden Planes:

Each of the students received a basic wooden plane, they assembled and tested them while waiting for the rocket launching to begin. Students enjoyed this activity. A sample comment about it: "Before today I thought that planes used the fins to go in the air and fly, but now I know that the wing is rounded and that creates lift."

Planes 1
Planes 2
Planes 3

Launching Model Rockets:

The students assembled the engine, parachute and a device that takes altitude, time and speed measurements of the rockets in the air into their rocket designs and then proceeded to launch them and then they redid the launch with stronger engines. The competition was about whose rocket goes up the highest which is based on their fin design as well as their precision with the assembly. Students loved this activity and wrote about it a lot in their daily journales. Some sample comments include: "I would tell my friends that we got to shoot rockets 300-500 feet in the air." Another student said: "It was fun to watch other people's rockets go up." Another student commented: "I realized that rockets and planes have to be perfectly balanced to work. The rocket was the best. It made me like engineering more."

Rocket Launching 1
Rocket Launching 2
Rocket Launching 3
Rocket Launching 4
Rocket Launching 5
Rocket Launching 6
Rocket Launching 7

At the end of the day, students wrote their reflections for the day, and some of their comments included: "The rockets were a lot of fun and it brought a lot of creativity into my thinking." Another student said "It was very fun, definitely recommend it." Another student said: "I think it shows how fun STEM is, I used to think it was boring till this."