step into my classroom: rocket science

My absolute favorite unit of study with my eighth graders is astronomy. It takes us almost to Christmas because there is just so much so cover. We start with the basics of space exploration, and in order to explore space you need rockets. In order to fly a rocket, you need to understand Newton's third law of motion.

Students were given a balloon, a straw, a piece of paper, and some tape. The task was to create the most aerodynamic aircraft. Apparantly I failed to explain this properly, though, as the first thing many kids did was roll up the paper and put it inside the balloon. Creative problem solving, yes. What I was going for? Nope.

After 15 minutes of frantic rocket building, we went to the courtyard to for test flights and to see which team had the best vessel. It was a close tie between two groups!