The Brown Bag STEM Challenge II- Paper Rockets

This week’s activity is a low-budget, fun way to launch rockets with students. This challenge stresses data collecting, data analysis and is a good way for students to experiment with controls and variables. No launcher is actually used, so it can be done in any space.

Students work in pairs to design, build, and “fly” straw rockets. Students wrap a strip of paper around a pencil, overlapping it as they go. Once students have completed their rocket bodies, additional paper can be used to design fins for it.

This versatile activity is great for a wide range of age groups because students can experiment with many facets of the rocket such as the fins and fuselage.

The Brown Bag STEM Challenge design challenges focus on some key STEM concepts like critical thinking and problem solving, all while being low-cost to implement. This sequel series contains all of the same elements (design briefs, NGSS alignment, Interactive STEM Notebook pages, etc.) as the original, but with new challenges!

So, what did we learn?
Next Generation Science Standards: SEP- Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Developing and Using Models, Planning and Carrying Out Investigation, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking; CCC- Scale, Proportion and Quantity, System and System Models

CCSS Math: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Measurement and Data, Number and Operations