Teachers Become Students for a Week in Rocketry Class

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jun. 15, 2010) -- Thirteen teachers from four states are spending this week in the classroom as students learning rocketry lessons to take back to their classes in the fall. "Rocketry: The Future of Human Space Exploration," is a Space Foundation Space Across the Curriculum teacher professional development program held at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo.

During a week of full-day, graduate level studies, the teachers are designing and constructing classroom rockets for a hands-on approach to concepts such as Newton's Laws of Motion and the physics of flight.

Space Foundation aerospace education specialist Bobby Gagnon described the week's activities. "The class is making and launching a variety of rockets, including straw rockets launched with a Pitsco launcher, water rockets, and chemical rockets. By launching both inside and outdoors, we examine the factors impacting a launch. All of these lessons are immediately transferable to the classroom."

Click here for more about Space Foundation education programs.

Pictured:  Linda Shepherd, a middle school science teacher from Arkansas, shows the classroom rockets she learned to make this week in the Space Foundation Space Across the Curriculum rocketry class. The rocket projects are easily transferable to the classroom because they're made from common household items.