Exploring Rocket Science
Objective: Children will explore the principles of rocketry and the forces involved in rocket launch.
Engage the children with a trigger; a video of a Space X rocket launch. Ask open-ended questions to gauge their PRK about rockets, e.g. I wonder how it moves/blasts off, what’s the science? Discuss different types of rockets and their purposes. Allow the children time to discuss and try to find an explanation. Elicit the basic principles of rocket propulsion and the forces involved.
Show the children some examples of different rockets; rocket mice, foam rockets, Marvin and Milo’s Penny Rockets and Balloon rockets.
Investigation
Watch the Rocket Mice video:
Divide the class into groups and make rocket mice using paper templates and bottles of various sizes. Encourage investigation through questioning: How high can you make it go? What is making your mouse fly and come back down again? Allow the children to play with the rockets and encourage them to make predictions about their own starter questions; I wonder does the rocket go further if I use a larger bottle or if I squeeze harder. How does changing the force on the rocket affect how far it goes? The children can carry out their investigations using bottles of different sizes. Discuss how pressure inside the bottle makes the contents of the want to escape, and how squeezing the bottle increases the pressure inside.
Ask each group to present their rocket designs to the class. Facilitate a discussion on the principles of rocket propulsion and the forces involved in launching a rocket. Which bottles, large or small sent the mice the highest? Why do you think that was? Was it a fair test? If we had to launch a heavier object what could we do differently? Could we design different types of rockets? What is different/the same as space rockets or fireworks rockets?