Teaching STEM Lessons with Rockets

Rockets are an effective way to teach students the fundamental processes of propulsion, Newton’s Laws of Motion and the physics of space travel. They’re also fun.

Twenty teachers from four states spent a week in June at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute in Colorado Springs learning how to use rockets to excite their students about the basics of STEM education (that’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The teachers constructed various types of rockets then launched them to test their designs.

The course — “Rocketry: Space History” — also gives educators an overview of the history of space exploration and an awareness of the connection between the social and political aspects of the “space race” and how this transformed our society. It is one of five Space Across the Curriculum teacher professional development courses offered at the Space Foundation Discovery Institute this summer.

Through these week-long, intensive, graduate-level courses, participants can earn continuing education credits, graduate credits or work toward a master’s degree in multiple related disciplines.

Click here to learn more about Space Across the Curriculum courses.

Pictured: Robert Fowler, science teacher at Tesla Education Opportunity Center in Colorado Springs and a Space Foundation Teacher Liaison, shows the rocket he made and launched in the Space Across the Curriculum rocketry class.

 

 

This article is part of Space Watch: July 2011 (Volume: 10, Issue: 7).