Creating a rocketry class curriculum

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Mlee

Active Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
As a college aviation instructor, I'm considering offering a rocketry course. Have any of you ever done one? If so, do any of you have ideas for a basic curriculum that you would share, or a source for a viable start?
 
I believe quite a few people on this board have participated in introductory rocketry courses at various levels before, although I suspect the majority of such courses have been aimed at students younger than college level.

The Team America Rocket Challenge (TARC) program introduces many students from junior high and high school age to rocketry. That might be a good place to begin.

One drawback to TARC programs, in my opinion, is that they tend to motivate students to "jump in the deep end" too soon. In order to have a successful TARC entry you really need to move into mid-power and even low-end high-power rocketry (MPR/HPR) respectively.

MPR and HPR build upon basic principles of safety, construction and design first taught in low-power rocketry (LPR) which can be much more accessible to a beginning audience. Jumping directly from "complete newbie" status directly into designing and flying MPR and HPR rockets can lead to many avoidable safety and construction mishaps a solid grounding in LPR can head off.

A VERY good introduction into model rocketry (beginning with LPR and also moving into MPR/HPR) is the "Handbook of Model Rocketry" by G. Harry Stine, pretty widely available on Amazon.

Manufacturers such as Estes, Quest, Apogee and FlisKits also offer plenty of educational resources, as does the National Association of Rocketry.
 
You can visit our education site by clicking EDUCATOR from our main page. Feel free to contact me via email. I have extensive experience with rocketry classes, beginner through advanced, ages 6 and up. More than happy to help :)
 
You can visit our education site by clicking EDUCATOR from our main page. Feel free to contact me via email. I have extensive experience with rocketry classes, beginner through advanced, ages 6 and up. More than happy to help :)

Excellent! Thank you. It is much appreciated. And if I can reciprocate, please let me know.

marc
 
I'm a longtime fan of the Stine handbook and own it. Thanks for the info on the TARC program too. I'm starting to look into that. Thanks again.

I believe quite a few people on this board have participated in introductory rocketry courses at various levels before, although I suspect the majority of such courses have been aimed at students younger than college level.

The Team America Rocket Challenge (TARC) program introduces many students from junior high and high school age to rocketry. That might be a good place to begin.

One drawback to TARC programs, in my opinion, is that they tend to motivate students to "jump in the deep end" too soon. In order to have a successful TARC entry you really need to move into mid-power and even low-end high-power rocketry (MPR/HPR) respectively.

MPR and HPR build upon basic principles of safety, construction and design first taught in low-power rocketry (LPR) which can be much more accessible to a beginning audience. Jumping directly from "complete newbie" status directly into designing and flying MPR and HPR rockets can lead to many avoidable safety and construction mishaps a solid grounding in LPR can head off.

A VERY good introduction into model rocketry (beginning with LPR and also moving into MPR/HPR) is the "Handbook of Model Rocketry" by G. Harry Stine, pretty widely available on Amazon.

Manufacturers such as Estes, Quest, Apogee and FlisKits also offer plenty of educational resources, as does the National Association of Rocketry.
 
I'm a longtime fan of the Stine handbook and own it. Thanks for the info on the TARC program too. I'm starting to look into that. Thanks again.

Well, in that case you're probably already halfway to being able to put a course together yourself. :wink:

One big factor to keep in mind is cost: the budget necessary to get your class started. If you start in MPR/HPR this can become quite substantial pretty quickly. If you are going to start with LPR rockets you can get up and flying for less than $30 per head.

Access to an adequate flying field is another: MPR and HPR flying will require much bigger field areas which are becoming harder and harder to find.

Moving into MPR and HPR provides more impressive flights in altitude and volume (whoooosh!!) but there is not much in terms of 'rocket science' you cannot learn as well with smaller models.
 
Great point. And I do have a good grasp of the whole rocketry thing having been launching and building since the mid 70's (I'm embarrassed to say). But Putting together a curriculum from scratch will require several sources. At least for college kids. So I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. Everybody here is so helpful and kind. Rocketry people really are fantastic.
 
Looks like I have some reading to do. I'm trying to convince my old middle school teacher to bring back rockets into the classroom. That used to be the thing all 8th graders looked forward to, but then they stopped it. I am meeting with him next week, and will be going over a two week rocketry curriculum to fit into his class. He said he will allow it as long as it is educational, so those links are great.
Thanks,
Kyle Rodrigues
 
Funny that I just stumbled upon this - I was just about to start a post asking whether anyone ever had (or had heard of) an actual rocketry class taught in junior high or high school. I know that there were probably quite a few teachers that incorporated it heavily into their curriculums during the space race, but didn't know if there had been an actual course. If there had been one, this might provide a good foundation.
 
I think a lot of people here have taught rocketry classes as part of summer rec, community ed, Scouting/4H programs, or even as week-long units in science classes, but I don't know if I've ever heard of an actual school class (9-12 weeks, 4-5 days a week, several hours of homework per week) focusing strictly on rocketry. That would be a humungous amount of time immersion for rocketry. Plus the costs for materials could zoom pretty high.

I suppose you could do it in Sunbelt regions where you can launch year round, or maybe in spring or fall quarters up North. Although if you did it in fall quarter up North you'd be running the risk of weather getting progressively worse as the class went on and presumably finished more flight-ready projects.

I suppose you could do a semester-length class in the North starting in January, with the first several weeks devoted to in-class topics and then moving into actually flying rockets in March/April.

It would be awesome if anyone could do it, but I have never heard of it actually being done. Maybe now with the rise of specialized charter schools focusing on particular subject concentrations, a school with heavy emphasis on math/science/ STEM might actually offer such a course.
 
I don't know if I've ever heard of an actual school class (9-12 weeks, 4-5 days a week, several hours of homework per week) focusing strictly on rocketry.

My daughter's high school in Seattle used to have an aerospace engineering class. At least one year it was offered, all of the students were members of the school Rocketry Club (TARC team) working on that year's SLI project. The class effectively was all about SLI, building the designs and documentation needed for the program. Unfortunately, SLI is now college only and the aerospace class is gone.
 
You bring up some good points. In my case, this would be a once-a-week, 3-hour, 16 week class at the college level. Now, I'm in California so the launch weather isn't a problem. My idea is that it would be a combination of:
1. rocketry theory and aerodynamics
2. Engines and thrust
3. Rocksim
4. Building/fabrication/fiberglass, etc.
5. Payload sections, tracking, electronics, GPS, cameras/video
6. Culminate in the ROC launch (with the student-built,rocket or rockets) out at Lucerne dry Lake

It's a total of about 50 hours needed for 3 units in 1 semester. You are right about costs too, so all that would need to be considered. I was hoping to do something more than the usual, "community ed., 3-hour, scout-type" class where everybody half-a$$ builds a cheap Estes and you launch a horde of them and everybody goes, "woo" and they go home and never think about it again. Because to me that's just babysitting. :)

imstead of "Model Rocketry 101" I'm thinking along the lines of an "astronautics" class, complete with thrust equations, apogee calcs, heavy rocksim use, etc.

Marc

I think a lot of people here have taught rocketry classes as part of summer rec, community ed, Scouting/4H programs, or even as week-long units in science classes, but I don't know if I've ever heard of an actual school class (9-12 weeks, 4-5 days a week, several hours of homework per week) focusing strictly on rocketry. That would be a humungous amount of time immersion for rocketry. Plus the costs for materials could zoom pretty high.

I suppose you could do it in Sunbelt regions where you can launch year round, or maybe in spring or fall quarters up North. Although if you did it in fall quarter up North you'd be running the risk of weather getting progressively worse as the class went on and presumably finished more flight-ready projects.

I suppose you could do a semester-length class in the North starting in January, with the first several weeks devoted to in-class topics and then moving into actually flying rockets in March/April.

It would be awesome if anyone could do it, but I have never heard of it actually being done. Maybe now with the rise of specialized charter schools focusing on particular subject concentrations, a school with heavy emphasis on math/science/ STEM might actually offer such a course.
 
Ive vey never tried it. But I'm so glad you suggested that. I've been wanting to know if it's any good and how it compares to Rocksim, but I'm new to the forum and didn't want to ask too many questions :). Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. Rocksim is crazy expensive. This is 2015 and software -especially for rocketry- should be a lot less than it is.

Marc

Just curious... Have you played with OpenRocket at all? It's a lot cheaper (read: FREE), and with a little practice the results can be quite striking...

Binder Design Velociraptor (BT-60 Downscale)(Two Stage)
 
A lot of people use OR, and it's frequently updated with new information and new tricks. I can't speak for it's accuracy in predicting altitudes etc, as I don't have any altimeters and haven't launched a HPR rocket (yet), but I haven't heard many complain about it.

As to asking questions. As long as you're not asking for info on propellants (how to make them), and your questions are on topic, feel free to ask away... There's a lot of very knowledgeable people here that are more than happy to share what they know w/you.

BTW, my realm of expertise is in pulling off the seemly impossible with OpenRocket.
 
I did a little test, launched my ventris took note of the temp. when I got home I fed OR the field conditions(elevation, temp, barometer etc.) OR was 50' off (which way I'm not sure, think it was low).
Rex
 
Can anyone recommend some more advanced reading materials? Something aimed at those of us who already know what center of pressure is for example. What is it those ivy leaguers that end up working on military contract rocketry/aerospace work kind of people read?
 
Back
Top