Overview of the universe, our solar system and the ... - APRSAF

Two-Liter Pop Bottle Rockets may well be the GREATEST PHYSICAL SCIENCE
TEACHING TOOL EVER CREATED!!" The Secondary Science Education
Department at the University of Nebraska hears this statement frequently from
teachers. Bottle rockets can be used at the middle grades and high school levels
to allow students to experience the nature of science at its best:
•Middle grades students can manipulate and control variables, see their
hypotheses verified or refuted, and graph their findings.
•High school students can document their abilities with the following concepts:
inertia, gravity, air resistance, Newton's laws of motion, acceleration, relationships
between work and energy or impulse and momentum, projectile motion, freefall
calculations, internal and external ballistics, and the practice of true engineering.
Designing, building and flying a bottle rocket provides students with a real-world
application of the scientific method. Students must research a problem, propose
an answer, test the answer, and analyze the data produced by the test to figure
out if they have the answer or not. Math and science studies are necessary to
complete the process . . . they are tools that an engineer uses to solve a problem.
When students have the tools, then they can attack a problem--that's what
engineers do!
These supplementary classroom materials have been developed for use
with students in grades 5-8 and 9-12, as well as lifelong learners. They
are aligned to the following National Standards: continued……