Tuesday morning the class spent converting their Generation 1 Rockets into Generation 2 Rockets. Stability was a primary component of the redesign. Once the vehicle was cut and only the bottom half returned to work with, new development began. Students had to take into account weight, thrust, impulse momentum, drag and lift.
They also had to create flight profile predictions based on their design and calculations, and a flight readiness review of their vehicle.
Here are some of their Generation 2 rockets:
When I arrived at class, they were not all back from lunch. One student, Cole Bolen, was waiting outside the door. I asked her how things were going so far? She expressed great disappointment in her own Gen 1 and now Gen 2 rockets. She said that she was good at math, the calculations, and scribing her ideas down on paper, but her hands on application was in her words, “a disaster.”
“In every group I have ever been in, whether school or college, I am always the scribe. I can do the calculations and put it beautifully on paper. People I worked with learned quickly that what ever I touch falls apart. Even at home, my husband makes me the gopher while he does the heavy work,” she lamented.
“When building my Gen 1 I focused too much on making it “look” like a rocket, instead of the functionality of the rocket. When I was done it looked great, but the flight was terrible,” she said. “It barely left the rail, turned sideways, headed for the group and luckily crashed into the ground. I don’t want to be that person that gets someone injured because my project blew up!” Cole sighed.
As we talked, I told her it was alright, at least it got off the rail. Her students would see that as a success, and then they would learn more while analyzing and determining what went wrong, just as she was now doing. She agreed and said that was one of her concerns about one day conveying these principles to her students.
“I guess I know that if it had been an automatic success, then I wouldn’t have learned much. This way I am determined to fix it for the next one,” she said.
Today, when having to take what she described as the bottom half of a charred and dirty mess, and once again create a rocket that was supposed to be functional and fly, she found it a very daunting task. She said she had done great at drawing it all out, but just couldn’t get it to stay together. She was concerned that it would once again blow apart leaving the rail.
I expressed to her that I was sure it would be better today than she thought. I told her that in this program a failed launched is still a successful learning opportunity. To quote a friend, “In order for a rocket to fly, 1000 things must go right, but it only takes one for it to fail.” It is in determining what caused the failure that a new success is born as well as a new chance to do better.
The rest of the class returned about this time and each gathered their rockets and we headed out to the launch field. All the rockets flew, except one. That one still left the rail after an interesting spinning episode and it landed just a few feet from the rail.
Cole’s flew beautifully. The chute deployed and all was recovered. Her only mishap was that it came down in two sections that were not connected. She proved to herself that she could do this.
In the grand scheme of things, that is what this program is all about. Both the teachers, and their future students, learning all the STEM applications of the program, and then designing, developing, discerning, attaining, applying and presenting all they have learned in a workable completed project. Once the project is complete, it is the massive amount of take away that goes with each of them and helps develop their futures that matters the most.
Yes each one wants their rocket to be a success in terms of flight. That is the goal, but here success is really measured in the inspired hope and plans of each student as they head out to do something great in their future.
Congratulations, Cole! Now on to Generation 3 with new confidence in what you are learning, what you can do, and what you will be able to teach your students in the future. You already have a head start on problem solving. Thank you for sharing your experience with me and my readers.
Below is a Facebook link to the videos I attempted to take of the launches. Please excuse my videoing. With the bright sun I did not do too well at keeping the camera in the right place.
After the launches, the class headed back in to pour over their Flight Readiness Reviews for both their Gen 2 rockets and their upcoming Gen 3’s. They will be discussing impulse, drag and lift, and resistance along with a focus on problem solving.
Rebekah, referred to the upcoming section as the Gen 3 Challenge. Generation 3 will be a whole new build. I will leave it at that for now, so as to not give away any new things that will be part of this challenge, in case they have not been introduced yet. Tomorrow should be another interesting, challenging and fun day.
Until tomorrow, if you are not dreaming of rockets, you obviously have not hung out with this crew enough!
www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.
#RideTheSky! #Rockets2022 RocketSeason!
On the Wings of Angels 