On the Moon: Launch It

In this 1 hour long engineering challenge, learners in Grades 3-8 will design and build an air-powered rocket from a straw and launch it using a balloon. By brainstorming, designing, building, testing, evaluating, and redesigning their rockets, learners will develop skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and scientific inquiry. They will also learn about the role rockets play in space exploration, potential and kinetic energy, and distance-angle relationships of an object in flight. Pages 3 and 4 of On the Moon: Launch It Challenge Sheet form the handout for this lesson.

Topics

  • classroom activity
  • forms of energy
  • conservation of energy
  • engineering design
  • properties of objects
  • motion and forces
  • technological design
  • MS-ETS1-2
  • rocket
  • Moon