Year 10 Physics Rockets Incursion 

On Thursday 15/08/24 two presenters from Victorian Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC) ran a workshop for the Year 10 Physics class titled “Reach for the Stars”

They ran a theory session on velocity, acceleration, forces and gravity etc with a discussion where students showed their previous understanding of the topics.

The presenters then got the students to design plastic bottle rockets and each pair of students came up with their ‘rocket’ for launching.

Students built and launched water rockets which are simple, cheap, safe, guaranteed to fly and can be launched repeatedly.

The class then moved to the oval where the students successfully launched their rockets many times and enjoyed every part of the outside session.

Every rocket actually flew! Students left the oval with a grasp of how forces act on the rocket at various stages in the launching, flight and landing process.

Back in the classroom the presenters took the class through another discussion with a set of questions.

Overall the incursion was a success and students understood how those terms could be applied in real life situations.

~ Mr Mahendra Prasad