Science & engineering Go Together!!

This article emphasizes that science and engineering go together in real life and should also do so in the classroom. This is illustrated by a very detailed activity in water rocket designi... See More

This article emphasizes that science and engineering go together in real life and should also do so in the classroom. This is illustrated by a very detailed activity in water rocket designing and flying. What I found especially interesting is that the students did an investigation of throwing up a variety of balls and watching what factors effected their "flight".

Redesigning Water Rockets is a Hit!

I used this article with my middle school Design and Engineering students with fabulous results. I appreciate how well laid out each step of the process was laid out in phases to help me un... See More

I used this article with my middle school Design and Engineering students with fabulous results. I appreciate how well laid out each step of the process was laid out in phases to help me understand the process and share it with my students. The “Activity Worksheet,” is well done. I was able to use it as written with no modifications at all. In fact, the students were able to easily transition from one phase to the other seamlessly. The questions posed in the “Summative Assessment of Physics Concepts,” required my students to demonstrate understanding of the deeper aspects of the concepts. As a teacher, I also appreciated how the authors modeled “Addressing the Next Generation Science Standards,” breaking it down by dimension, dimension name or NGSS code, and sample student task from this activity. This alone is helping me understand how to break down other lessons and provide a model for identifying standards and evidence the standards are being addressed.