The First Launch is done… What did people think of it?
Great news… we completed our 1st launch! We got a lot of data which helped us see how high our rockets went… but data isn’t personal opinion. That’s why I decided to interview some students. First I asked some students “What was your favorite part of rocketry?” My responses were “Building the rocket.”, “My favorite part was figuring out the characteristics of our rocket all on our own and launching.”, and finally “Building the rocket and launching them.” Based on this I think I can conclude that building and launching were the most common favorite parts in our class.
My next question was “What was the greatest challenge you faced? The answers varied widely compared to the last question. 3 people answered about teamwork and fins which was I expected, but then one person answered “Finding jobs for all the people.” I certainly did not see that response coming. This is an example of why data can’t always convey a message as well as personal opinion.
However, I did also collect some data. I asked “On a scale from 1-10, how much have you liked Rocketry so far? Why?” The results were the most stunning yet. I thought that the numbers would be 7,7,8,9,9, instead they were 4,7,8,8,10,10 averaging about 7.83. But a number can’t just answer a question, you need opinion. Notice the why in the question above? There’s the opinion in this question. However, unlike the last question the opinions didn’t vary that much, most were about teamwork, building or rocketry being amazing.
Images tell a story like no other…
We’ve seen two types of analysis so far, data and personal opinion. But what else could there be? What about media? Seeing photos and images can definitely promote someone’s understanding of a topic. Therefore, I will be sharing images telling our rocketry story from start to finish. I will also of course, include captions and thoughts on each of these images. I will also tell you how far they are into the rocketry(Like 1 day, 1 week, ect.)
The Rocketeers, working on their inspiration board.(3 days in)
We started by making Inspiration Boards, printing, pasting, and drawing images and text that inspired us. We also included original illustrations and diagrams. Over the course of two weeks we all were able to put together some boards that really inspired us.
My group, The High Fliers with our finished Inspiration Board (1 week in)
After we finished working on our Inspiration Boards we started to design our rockets. We took out poster boards and began to sketch our rockets.
The Roc-Kids’ rocket design.(1 1/2 week in)
My group’s rocket draft.(2 weeks in)
My group used a real bottle to measure and perfect our rocket.
Now, it was time to go from paper to reality! We brought in our own materials and started to build. There were many difficulties such as the length of the fins, the nose cone, and teamwork to name a few.
We started by making fins; with exact measurements!(2 1/2 weeks in)
Many attempts were made!
Then we worked on nose cones, one tinfoil the rest 3D printed.(3 weeks in)
And finally we hot glued all those parts together creating finished rockets!(1 month in)
The rockets are done… But what will happen in the launch?
Now that our rockets were finished it was time to launch! We took to to the launch pad full of eagerness. People brought water(for the rockets), bicycle pumps, and tools called trundle wheels and clinometers. Outside the fun reached its peak…
Jack and Elliott setting up or rocket on the launch pad
A short slow-mo video showing a rocket launching
We have seen three types of analysis: The exactness of data, the variety of personal opinion and finally, the way media plunges you into the depths of the action. And every single type of analysis can represent our rocketry journey. So, which type do you like best?
Key Vocabulary:
Trundle Wheel: A wheel that is used to to measure distances; every time it spins around it has traveled a fixed distance(In our case one meter.)
Clinometer: A device used to measure angles.
Aerodynamic: An aspect that means that the object in possession of it flies through the air well.
Data: Numbers that come from an experiment.
Personal Opinion: A single person’s thoughts on something.
Media: Videos and Images.
Flash Opinion: What does Nate think of launch #1? Well, I think that we did very well for our first time launching, but there were a lot of improvements to make.
Bonus:
Facts about the High Fliers’ 1st rocket:
How high did it go? 15m
Out of all the rockets in the class, what place did it come in in terms of how high it went? 3rd-5th, the data was slightly messed up, so we are not really sure.
What were its faults? Its nose cone was flimsy and made out of tin foil. Its wing were floppy and not that aerodynamic.
Lessons Learned:
- Working as a whole group is great, but dividing to conquer in some situations works better.
- Teamwork is more than working together, it involves kindness.
- Building is easy, succeeding is a different story.