Reflection
Students spent time building and
creating paper rockets that were then launched from an air compression launcher.
At a consistent 38psi and angle of trajectary, each rocket was "tested." Some
showed great distance, while others blew-up, lost their nose cone or did not
"lift-off." There was a great discrepancy in how far their rockets flew.
Students spent time discussing and redesigning. Some just repaired their
originals, while others started over. Then, another opportunity was provided to
launch. After being involved in this trial & error, failure & success
cycle, individuals wrote a reflection about the feelings and emotions
experienced.
Student Reflections
posted:
Samara
reflects: My rocket was called
The
Chiller because it was made of cool
colored paper. When everyone was finished with their rockets and we went outside
to launch them, nobody was sure what to expect. In the end of the 1st launch,
mine came in 3rd or 4th place and went pretty far. After we redesigned our
rockets, we launched them again. I covered mine in tape and it didn't do 1/2 as
well as it had done on the first launch. I think that it's because I put too
much tape on it so it became too heavy. I think mine did well on the 1st time
because it was very thin and not too heavy. I made my rocket thin because I
saw the pictures of the Rocket Boy's rockets and they were long and thin
too.
I
learned a lot from rocket building. I learned that your rocket shouldn't be too
heavy but also it shouldn't be too light, it should also be aerodynamic, and the
rocket should be pretty thin because if it's too fat then all of the air will
escape. I also think that it is better if the rocket is short because the
shorter ones did better than the longer ones in the
launches.
I
liked doing the rockets because it gave us a taste of what the rocket boys were
experiencing throughout the book, their feelings and what they were thinking and
I really, really, enjoyed making the rockets. It was a lot of fun to see what
all of the different kinds of rockets looked like and how far they flew. It was
a very fun project and it was also one that most people don't get to experience
(at least not
kids!)
Laura
writes: I think that
launching rockets was a great learning experience. When I designed my
rocket I thought that I would watch it go very far but of course
my nose cone did not stay on and I had to build a new one just before we
launched our first rockets. For my first rocket, I used construction paper
for the nose cone and for the fins. For the body, I used regular colored
paper. I don't think that worked because the air applied to much pressure
causing the sides to rip. My next rocket,
The Teddy
Machine, was made out of
entirely construction paper, but this time I made sure the nose cone was on
tight and was
secure. The
Teddy Machine didn't go
very far, though it did go farther than my other rocket
:).
I
thought that redesigning was a good idea because then I could see
what I did
wrong!
Alex
Writes: When we built the rockets
for the first time, I didn't know what to expect. Everyone had a different
rocket that was going to do good, or going to do bad. I was curious how far mine
would go and what design worked the best. When we launched our first rockets, I
was amazed how well I did. Even though I got third, I knew I would need to
improve on some little tasks. When we had a chance to rebuild, I went wild with
the weight, the balance of the rocket, the tape to cover the base, fins, and
nose cones, and the designs on the rocket. I thought I was going to improve on
my distance except there were some other really good rockets that were built
better too. I was excited when we were about to launch my rocket because I
thought that I was going to do very well. When we did the
countdown…5,4,3,2,1,blastoff, I found out a different story. My new rocket
went about half the distance of my old rocket except it didn't blow up. I was
worried about the weight of my rocket because I added about a pound to the base
and the rocket just dropped during flight. Well, you don't always succeed during
life, and that's what I learned during this
experiment.
Colin
says: I think that the rocket
launching we did was not a waste of time. I think that it helped us learn about
what Sonny and the other rocket boys went through. My rocket flew better the
first time, because it had more drag and it was longer. If I redid my rocket, I
would have made it shorter. I would have also made the tube thinner because the
more space that the air has to cover, the less force the air will have when it
reaches the nose cone. I can't wait to redo my rocket and see how far I can make
it go.
Matt reflects:
After two rocket launches i have
had success and failure. On the first launch, my rocket was on the pad and I
thought it would go about 200 feet. I was wrong. My rocket didn't even go off
the pad. Instead the nose cone blew off and went about 3 feet. Then on the
second launch my rocket went 41 meters. I was amazed because the feeling of
success and failure are so different. When my rocket was a failure I felt sad
because i worked on it so much. Also I felt determined to keep building and to
keep launching. I found that I was right because my next rocket went so much
farther. Both launches I felt that I could have done better and if I built more
rockets. I learned that you
need to stick with something no matter what
happens.
Izaak
responds with: I think that doing
these paper rockets made the whole experience much more fun for me, and it
really let me grasp what the rocket boys had to go through. I was lucky that
mine did not explode, but in trial and error, my second rocket did not go as far
as my first. I will try, try, again until I do get it right, and maybe (someday,
a while in the future) get it to the houses on the hill behind our school, aroun
70 meters. Also, I think that the fact that I did not rebuild my rocket from the
start was a bad idea. First off, my base was much too large and it let too much
air out at one time. Also, although I did not notice it when I was re-creating,
the base of my rocket had "detiriotated," you might say. The paper had become
thin and unstable, therefore unable to hold the clay I had put around the base
so it would be a bit smaller, and the weight would be even. Instead of the clay
plan working, the thinner inside, again, unable to support anything, dropped the
clay out
just
before launch, or sometime during. This gave my rocket a spiraly flight, with
way too much clay in the nosecone creating massive unbalance and creating a,
well, to put it simply, a failure. Instead of being only 3.4 meters behind the
leader (2nd place) I was about 7.5 meters back, giving my rocket a 4th place
finish, almost a 3rd. (I got robbed by about half a
meter)
Lisa
Says: My rocket was called the
Chipper Express. The first time it flew 30 feet. I realized it needed more
weight. I put on a lot of tape and clay. When we got outside to launch a second
time, Samara gave me tape off of her rocket. The tape stuck out the clay was
falling out. I never actually got to finish my rocket because I was absent so
the last minute improvising wasn't a very good job. There was one big
blob of clay on the side that was covered by tape. When I launched the
rocket my finger got stuck under the switch. Instead of traveling 50 feet it
went 10 feet. I was so upset because other kids got to relaunch and I
didn't.
There were a
lot of things I learned about design. Just because it looks pretty doesn't mean
it will fly. The heavier the better. And make sure it's aerodynamic before it
flies.
I really think
that only one person should turn the switch because some people are stronger
than others and it's not fair if theirs goes further than
others.
Magena
Writes: I really enjoyed making
rockets because we got to experience some of the same feelings as the Rocket
Boys, as we launched our rockets. Some of us might of felt successful if our
rocket flew well, some of us might of felt embarrassed if our rocket blasted
off it's nose cone, went two feet, or maybe didn't fly at all. I really liked
how we used trial and error, because we learned that maybe we needed to add more
tape for the next time we fly or maybe we needed to make it less wide so the air
doesn't all go out. It was nice to see the different kinds of rockets fly and
cheer them on as they flew across the playground. It was also neat when we
tilted the rocket launcher straight up in the air and took the two rockets that
flew the farthest and launched them straight up. Then we took the same
calculation as the rockets boys did, which was to see how many feet it went up
in the air. I was suprised that none of our rockets went over the fence when we
launched ours over the green belt, or at least got very far up the hill because
in many of the past classes, that seemed to of happened. I still, overall,
enjoyed launching our rockets in the air and experiencing the suspense as we
counted down to lauch our rockets and cheer when someone's rocket went very far.
I thought it was very fun and an oppertunity that people don't usually
get.
Kellyn
writes: My first rocket, The
Bronco, didn't even get off of our PVC pipe.(I thought my arrow-dynamic design
was perfect and when I saw Brook's rocket, The Bronco II, I thought mine would
go plenty far.) The nose cone sure did, though! The clay that was lodged in my
nose cone wasn't that sticky and hadn;t completely dried. The blast of air shot
the nose cone with impeccable force through the air and onto the black-top. If
that was my rocket then I would be proud. But it wasn't. :)
My hopes were high for my second
and last rocket. It was The Green XIII. I made a narrower tube so the air would
be more compressed and send it off farther. I also added bigger fins with clay
in it to wait it down and balance it with the hunk of clay in the nose cone. I
taped down the nose cone so it wouldn't fly off this time. I had a premonition
this rocket was going to be the best; I just knew
it.
At the launch, The Green XIII
actually made it off the PVC pipe. Only it didn't clear the playground. (Or the
black-top for that matter.) It shot off and spun quickly like a top in the air
landing a foot from the playground. I think my rocket still had un-balanced
fins. I think that's why it spun in the air like a basketball.
I thought the Green XIII would
definitly go farther than The Bronco because I completely restructured the
aerodynamics and design. I used tips and designs from Laura, my partner, and
even tried to balance it after I did the gravity (string) test. It did go
farther, but not
by much!
Posted: Tue - April 19, 2005 at 11:43 AM