FLOYD COUNTY —
Students watched with earnest as, with a “three, two, one” countdown, the cord was pulled, releasing a water-powered rocket carrying an egg into the air, soaring higher than three stories before it came crashing down on the pavement with a loud thud.
Tucked neatly in its box filled with cotton balls, marshmallows and bubble wrap was the egg and its juices, which were seeping out through multiple cracks in its shell.
The creators of the rocket, Alexis Schindler and Kayli Dempster, had dropped an egg back in fourth grade and they used ideas from that experience for their seventh-grade engineering and technology class Wednesday at Highland Hills Middle School.
“It didn’t work, because the height and it came down faster this time,” Dempster said, explaining that shooting it off sent it much higher than before.
“We don’t think we had enough of a parachute on it or enough stuff in the box,” Schindler said. “We need a bigger parachute and the box weighed more than the bottle, so it came down and hit first.”
Their teacher, Erica Ruckman, has had her students do this project for four years now. She said the curriculum includes a chapter on analyzing a problem, collecting information, brainstorming ideas and finally building and testing the product. She said she gave the class a lot of freedom with their projects, only putting out a few rules, which included having to use a plastic bottle, launch off the launch pad and safely carry an egg to the ground.
“I hope they learn that there are steps you can go through to solve any kind of problem,” she said. “The point is to go through those [problem] solving steps and if they can tell me why or why it didn’t work, they’ll get credit.”
Later this school year, she’ll also give them a chance to do it again, making any changes they see fit.
For some, that won’t be necessary. Taylor Baird and Chase Longest created a rocket that kept their egg together. The two said they added extra colored tissue paper hanging off the rocket for looks, in addition to their parachute and wings on the bottle.
“I thought it would bust. I didn’t think it would come down real slow, but I guess all the paper and parachute slowed it,” Baird said. “It created drag.”
Whether it worked or not, students said they were excited about the project.
“I think it’s really fun and I’m glad we got to have a hands on activity,” Longest said.
“I thought it was cool, because you learn how to build things,” 12-year-old Alyssa Nichols said.
“It’s more fun than just reading out of a textbook and we get to solve problems,” Schindler said.
Out of 15 projects in the class, four eggs made the trip successfully.
Education/Schools
Related Photos
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Highland Hills Middle School seventh-graders Jared Koopman, left, and Logan Cooley launch their water-powered rocket outside the school Wednesday morning in Floyds Knobs. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
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After launching their water-powered rocket, seventh-graders Kalie Dempster, left, and Alexis Schindler discover their egg did not survive the landing. Staff photo by Kevin McGloshen
Discussion
High-powered learning: Highland Hills students design, launch water-powered rockets
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