Aerospace: The field of science, technology, and industry dealing with the flight of rockets and other spacecraft through the atmosphere and the space beyond it. 

In this unit, students will learn about space, spacecraft, and space travel. They will have an opportunity to build a water powered bottle rocket that will be shot off at the end of the unit. They will also have an opportunity to do an Internet search looking for answers about aeronautics (flight in atmosphere), aerospace (flight out of the atmosphere), and the history of both.

The students will use reading material, vocabulary words, study questions, videos, hands-on activities, computers and computer hardware to complete this unit.

The Aerospace unit will allow the student an opportunity to:

• Learn about the history of flight and space travel.

• Use a computer-generated word processor to type in information about aerospace.

• Understand the concepts, principles, and physics of aerospace and rocket flight.

• Construct a water powered bottle rocket.

• Complete a test flight of the completed bottle rocket.  

Workstation Lesson Plan

Activity #1 – Students will find the definitions to various vocabulary words and the answers to multiple choice questions dealing with aerospace and rockets, using their student notebook. Click here to open AEROSPACE ACTIVITY #1

Activity #2 – Students enter their answers to ACTIVITY #1 in the computer using Microsoft Word. The students will correctly save this information on the desktop. Click here to open the link to Aerospace Activity #1 docx.

Activity #3 – Students will begin construction of their Stratoblaster Bottle Rocket.

Bottle Rocket Construction Process

Starting the bottle rocket. Make sure everything needed to build the rocket is included in the kit.  Instruction manual, bottle, ping pong ball for the nose, fin material, flight tube, etc. The instruction manual has a checklist of everything that is required, USE THE CHECKLIST!!!!

 

Do you notice the student is looking at the instruction booklet? It is the guide that will help you to complete the rocket correctly!!!!

 

Using hot glue guns to attach the fins to the bottle

 

 

Getting the fins ready for attachment. Notice the instruction booklet in the background? Very important to use it!!!!!

 

 

 

Stratoblaster Rocket is completed!!!! Parachute is installed by using hot glue and attaching it to the ping pong ball. The parachute is then  tucked in the top plastic insert.

  

Activity #5 – Students will begin to use the computer and Internet to complete “AMERICA IN SPACE”

 

Use the following site to complete questions #1-16: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/index.html

 

Use the following site to complete questions #1-16: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/historyofflight.html

 

Use the following site to complete questions #1-16: http://www.av8n.com/how/#contents

 

Use the following site to complete questions #17-25: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/

 

Activity #6– Students will complete a PowerPoint presentation about a planet in the Solar System

 

AEROSPACE Planet Presentation

 

Objective: Create a PowerPoint that will be used in a student presentation to help teach the class about a planet in our Solar System

 

Students will randomly pick a planet in our Solar System and will create a PowerPoint presentation that will be an aid in helping to teach their classmates about that planet.

 

PowerPoint must include:

1. Pictures (clip art, etc.)

2. Transitions (movement from one slide to another)

3. Text

 

PowerPoint Setup

1. Use a blank slide

2. First slide is a “Title Page”

A. Name (title) of your presentation

B. Author

C. Subject (PBL)

3. Second slide is a “Table of Contents”

4. Last slide needs to be a “Conclusion”

 

Websites that will be useful in the research for the PowerPoint:

 

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm

http://go.grolier.com/

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm

http://www.planetsforkids.org/