EARCOS 2009 - Kotakinibulu

EARCOS 2009 in Kotakinibulu has been phenomenal. Thanks to all who came to my presentation on rocketry and lab design. All of the examples of student work, website links, and the presentation itself are available on the right side of this blog site.

Experimental Design with Rockets (10th grade)

Richard and I recently introduced our 10th grade General Physics students to Experimental Design through the use of rockets. This then also led nicely into a lab on data collection and analysis, as well as conclusion and evaluation. Here’s how it worked.

Step 1: We had students build rockets that could be launched by our school’s affordable stomp launchers.

Step 2: We launched rockets and if they flew poorly, the students made modifications.

Step 3: We gave the students a contextualized assignment in which they were to assume they were a rocket scientist for a country of their choice in the early 1900’s. They then had to design an experiment involving rockets, and then write a letter to their government seeking funding to carry out their research.

Step 4: We marked the labs and for the best experiments, we awarded “research grants” to these students.

Step 5: Those students with the research grants were assigned a team of scientists to carry out the research. All students then collected data.

Step 6: Students individually analyzed the data through graphs on Excel and then wrote a conclusion and evaluation as well. These were submitted (in soft copy obviously!) and feedback given.