STEM Rockets Narrative

Learner: Percy, Towai and Stephan                          Learning Coach: Mr Hattie           Date: 1 November 2016

Learning Area: Learning Habitat 1 - iExplore STEM

Learning Observed

This week Percy, Towai and Stephan  got an opportunity to participate in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activity. Percy, Towai and Stephan went with Mr Davidson and Mr Hattie to explore how to make rockets fly using chemical reactions. Percy, Towai and Stephan  had three different types of rocket fuel to choose from and they had to make their Rocket - film canister - fly into the air. To make it work you have to mix the rocket fuel and powder together and trap it inside the rocket. The chemical reaction forces the lid to fly off and when the rocket is placed on the launch pad, lid down, it force the rocket into the air. Percy, Towai and Stephan started off a bit “standoffish” but once they saw the rocket launch into the air instantly they were discussing how it happened and what they did to make it fly. Percy was constantly suggesting to use more and when that didn’t work said how about less. They used Connecting and Collaboration wonderfully as they were thinking about what happened and applied it to try something different. They worked extremely well together.

Evidence of learning

Discussing how they are going to approach the problem.

Next Learning Steps

Percy, Towai and Stephan’s  next learning steps are: Write a reflection about what they learnt. Further explore the science behind the chemical reaction. Write instructions on the blog about how to make a rocket fly.