Some more educational outreach

Had the opportunity the past two weeks to engage in some more educational out reach with local schools.

First was a pre-school taught by the mom of one of my Boys & Girls Club kids (Justin) He has several models from the various classes (several beginner and advanced classes over a 2 year period) but hasn't had a chance to fly them. His solution? Schedule a launch for his mom's pre-school class at the school.

Problem? He didn't have any launch equipment...

Solution? His mom contacted me and Justin and I arranged a solid 30 min demo launch where we launched about 5 of his and 7-8 of mine for a fun filled afternoon. After all was said and done, I was able to give Justin his own launch set up as I recently acquired about 10 launch pads and controllers from a school program that was coming to an end

A photo album of the launch can be found by clicking this link.

Additionally, I was invited back to Pollard Elementary school (Plaistow, NH) for our annual rocket launch! Pollard was our (FlisKits) first ever educational contact back in 2003 and have been faithful customers ever since. The first 2 years had me teaching the classes (4 classes of 25 or so kids). During the 2nd year we arranged for a "Train the trainer" program where the teachers participated in the build. Since then I deliver the rockets (with a lecture) and they build them on their own. After a few weeks I am invited back to run the launch for them.

This year we suffered some equipment failure (launch controller and camera batteries...) but the day went great with a 100% success and no lost rockets! (A first for Pollard!) The photo album is posted and can be found by clicking this link.

All in all, a great week for rockets and kids

Now to get ready for NERRF!

Just saw this one, Jim. Have you done any rocketry programs for pre-schoolers before this one? I don't recall you mentioning that age group before.

Pippen said:

Just saw this one, Jim. Have you done any rocketry programs for pre-schoolers before this one? I don't recall you mentioning that age group before.

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Yep, I've done a few. Problem is (in many cases) is the inability to take photos. This time we had camera releases so we were all set.

While I have never had a "build" session geared towards this age group, I have done work with the Boston Children's Museum that was open to the public and we had some pre-schoolers take part. It was really mom or dad building the rocket, but still...

As for demo's, I have done them for pre-K through university levels for over 25 years now

I got a kick out of your caption of the girl with the "rainbow" rocket. I have to give the boys in my class a hard time about how the girls are better builders than the boys. I've noticed that girls will take their time on the build and are far pickier about how the finished product looks. In fact, I had one who had a melt-down over her's when she sanded a low spot into the root edge of her fin! (I made her a new fin and she was friends with the rocket again) The boys, on the other hand, are happy to slap them together, throw paint at them, and they have the attention span of a gnat.



Steve

Oh, there is no question that the girls are far better at this than the boys. The problem is, it (rocketry) doesn't keep their attention as well as it does the boys, so the boys tend to dominate the classes (and the hobby).

jflis said:

Oh, there is no question that the girls are far better at this than the boys. The problem is, it (rocketry) doesn't keep their attention as well as it does the boys, so the boys tend to dominate the classes (and the hobby).

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Agreed. I do however, have a massive propaganda campaign running and I use several of the young ladies who are deeply involved in NAR events as examples. Alyssa Stenberg comes to mind. She's about the same age as those in my classes and her accomplishments has sort of...set the hook. I have at least three who have been with me for four years and are past that age when this isn't suppose to be "cool" anymore. One, has brought her younger sister into the fold. In the basic class the girl-boy ratio is starting to climb, the advanced class this year, the ratio was a 50-50 split. Maybe there's some hope to pull more girls into the hobby?


Steve

The girls have been by far the more patient builders with me as well.

Take a look at these awesome fins a 5th grade girl did at my house today. This is her scratch build--it's her third rocket and her first time ever cutting out fins.

BTW, I used to just slap them together when I was a kid. Got them in the air much faster that way.