Rocketry classes

Hey guys, I'm teaching rocketry classes at my old elementary school. It'll be an extracurricular for the elementary students. I'll only have (4) two hour long classes for this. I'm going to spend the first day teaching about the basics of rocketry and then the second and third days building. The last day can be a class launch. I'll be holding two classes a week; one class for first and second graders and another for third through fifth graders. Does anyone have any good recommendations for easy kits to get for these two classes? I've been out of the loop for quite a while and am not sure what's popped up in my absence. Thanks!

There are a lot of choices, varying in price and degree of building difficulty. Samples below. They are all available as bulk kits.

Cheap and easy, but not very good? Estes Gnome or its equivalent. (I don't like its flight and recovery performance.)

Easy, but a little pricier and bigger? Alpha III or the Quest Viper or Starhawk kit.

Do you want to teach a little craftsmanship, but avoid the "I can't get the fins on straight" problem? Quest Astra I, which has "through the wall" balsa fins. (The Quest Payloader is similar, but has a payload section that kids could launch trinkets in.)

Hmmm, There is a BIG difference in manual skills, attention span, and interest between 1st/2nd graders and 3-5th graders. The former will needs lots of supervision every step of the way.

The latter can read instructions, but will still need some help.

* * *
Getting kids to sit though a two hour "theory" class will be tough. Can you arrange a flight demo for that day?

Thought: Run the build session for upper-class kids first. Pick out two or three of the more skilled and responsible ones to be helpers for the lower-class build sessions.

Fairly local to you would be Fliskits in New Hampshire. Jim does major amounts of work with groups and schools. He also has some kits that a really nice for beginners where you never worry about aligning fins. Take a look at the "dooDad" the "watchamacallit" and the "thing-a-ma-jig."

All his kits have the finest quality materials and come with support that is second to none.

https://www.fliskits.com/products/01prod_fs.htm Check by skill level and then go to skill level 1.

T

I've been thinking about the Fliskits dooDad for the lower class; I've always been pleased with Fliskits in the past. For the upper class, I may go with the Baby Bertha. These aren't set decisions though; I'm open to any suggestions. As for a demo launch for the first day; I was thinking that but I'm not sure how that'll work out. The classes are during the month of February, so I have plenty of time to figure things out. I'll have to plan out further how I'll use the class time and see how things fit in.

Check out the School Rocket from Balsa Machining Service. It is a very thoughtfully designed rocket with the first time builder in mind. Laser cut fins and slotted airframe help young builders get it right the first time. The price is school district/volunteer friendly and you really do get alot of rocket for the money.

https://www.balsamachining.com/#

JPVegh said:

Check out the School Rocket from Balsa Machining Service. It is a very thoughtfully designed rocket with the first time builder in mind. Laser cut fins and slotted airframe help young builders get it right the first time. The price is school district/volunteer friendly and you really do get alot of rocket for the money.

https://www.balsamachining.com/#

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Good choice Jeff...I'm also going to be teaching a class and have been considering this kit as well.

I wonder if this should be made a "sticky" or even have its own section on TRF? Seems as if this comes up from time to time and many of us are very interested in providing this type and level of education to our youth. Perhaps come up with a cook book approach with contributions from all interested parties?

jj94 said:

I've been thinking about the Fliskits dooDad for the lower class; I've always been pleased with Fliskits in the past. For the upper class, I may go with the Baby Bertha. These aren't set decisions though; I'm open to any suggestions. As for a demo launch for the first day; I was thinking that but I'm not sure how that'll work out. The classes are during the month of February, so I have plenty of time to figure things out. I'll have to plan out further how I'll use the class time and see how things fit in.

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Josh,

There is no question that FlisKits can help you out. For the younger group you can look at any of the following:

dooDad - BT-20 based, minimum diameter (no engine mount, just an engine block) w/ engine hook, streamer recovery, basswood fins.

Whatchamacallit - BT-20 based with a 13mm motor mount for mini-motors. About the same size as the dooDad but with an engine mount and balsa fins

Thing-a-ma-Jig - BT-50 based with an 18mm motor mount for standard motors. Sort of like a large Whatchamacallit (about 21" tall) with parachute recovery

All three of the above kits use FlisKits trademark Jig-Tech fin assembly. Laser cut fins that interlock such that they wont fall off while the glue is drying and it is impossible to put them on crooked. Makes it much easier for kids to have great success with their first rocket. All the features of a plastic fin unit with all the quality of real wood.

For the older kids you can use any of the above or consider:

Rhino - Big, Bad, with an Attitude! BT-60 based (about the same size as the Big Bertha from Estes). Parachute recovery, 18mm motor mount, laser cut fins. To add to the fun, the instructions allow for 3 or 4 fin models, fins can be swept forward or rearward or a mix. We also provide 2 fin patterns that can be cut FROM the laser fins for those who want a more customized look.

Triskelion - Featuring laser cut fins and a fin alignment jig, the Triskelion is often referred to as the most complex LOOKING beginner kit on the market. Easy to build and a great beginner kit.

Visit our Educational web site for information about our bulk pack program and we'll get you all set up to have a great session with your kids

jim

Those look like a good set of alternatives!

I think Jim's Jig-Tech assembly technique is awesome -- gives the nice-neat look of the RTF rockets while still keeping the kids' hands in the actual assembly.

I've been trying with my nieces/nephew to walk them through the

RTF---> Level 1 ---> Level 2

kit-building progression, but still sometimes they get frustrated the first time they have to glue real fins on and they end up a bit crooked.

Two hour long classes to a primary school? All i can say is good luck

From my days (well actually more like a decade) of coaching grade-school sports, I would definitely recommend breaking your lessons up into shorter blocs -- 10-15 minutes tops.

Extended attention spans are not good for kids at that age (they're not so good for kids at MY age ) so you definitely want to keep the pace moving with short segments, then a couple minutes' brief break in between, then move to the next segment. That way, kids retain more info and boredom does not set in so quickly.

If you have four 2-hour segments you definitely want to map out a progression of where you want to start and where you want to end up. You can set up a checklist of what you need to get done in each session.

You definitely don't want to get into extensive "lecture" sessions, especially for kids in the younger age groups. You can use diagrams, blackboard drawings, etc etc., but you only want to spend a few minutes on each. If you're standing up at the blackboard for 20 minutes, by that time the kids in the back of the room are just :yawn:

Is the school directly adjacent to your launch field, so you can get out there and back in the building within 10 minutes or so?

If so, it might actually be a good idea to START OUT the classes with a brief demo launch, just to show the kids what you're all trying to accomplish.

You could allocate the first 20 minutes of Session 1 to a quick demo launch: completely prep a couple rockets before you even arrive at school, bring the kids out, set up your pad, hook up the clips, count down and go. Then bring everybody back inside and say, "OK, in 3 1/2 more sessions, you guys are going to be launching your own rockets. Here's how we are going to get there."


I must add at this point it is tremendously helpful (or almost essential) for you to have an "assistant coach," "teacher's aide" or some kind of helping hand, for the first session at least (certainly for any sessions in which you are going outside to launch rockets). Any adult buddy or even an older student with at least some rocketry experience would probably be fine.

It will also help greatly if you get into build sessions and you have a number of kids building at the same time, if you have more than one pair of eyes to keep an eye on how things are going. If you have one teacher/coach and 10+ kids in your group, the concentration of the "kids at the back of the room" tends to wander.

Hmm, correction: the classes are an hour and a half each. I think I'm set on doing a demo launch for the first class just to get the kids excited and have a tangible goal in mind for them to reach. The first class will definitely have no building. I'm planning on having a simple demo launch and then having the kids go back inside for the rest of the class. There, we'll all get to meet each other properly as I suspect this sort of hands on class will involve a lot of student-student/student-teacher interactions too. The second and third classes will all be reserved for building the rockets. The only problem is that I want to have a rocket that the kids can build in a three hour time span (split into two classes). I don't want something too simple that the students will be able to knock out in a single class or something too complicated that the kids won't be able to finish the rocket by the time launch day comes around. That's kind of why I'm starting to lean away from the doodad or thingamajig. An typical 3 or 4FNC would probably be good in that case for the kids. But would first and second graders be able to take on something like that?

I would expect that there would be less boredom going around due to the class being extracurricular. Still, there is always parents enrolling unwilling kids into these things. As others have stated, the kids, especially the younger ones are going to get bored during the explanation session. You may want to create a video where you go step by step through prep and safety, then launch, to show to the kids. I'm assuming that most of the boredom will go away when the building sessions start, but you never know. I would recommend the Mini Max for the older kids, even though they are not available in bulk packs. It performs "uber" well, flies on mini engines, and is easy to build and finish. Anyway, I hope I helped and I didn't bore you.

-Socknic

I think first and second graders with no previous rocketry experience may have problems getting fins on straight with a conventional 3FNC / 4FNC design. The 3rd-5th graders probably would have better success. Baby Berthas would probably be OK for that age group.

I think I'd lean toward a Jig-Tech type design for the younger kids, to make the fin-gluing process more "failproof."

JStarStar said:

I think first and second graders with no previous rocketry experience may have problems getting fins on straight with a conventional 3FNC / 4FNC design. The 3rd-5th graders probably would have better success. Baby Berthas would probably be OK for that age group.

I think I'd lean toward a Jig-Tech type design for the younger kids, to make the fin-gluing process more "failproof."

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This is where slotted airframes really shine.

Still, I think Baby Bertha's slightly over sized fins could become a problem, even for older kids. With the Mini Max, the issue becomes the price, at $12 as opposed to $10. All in all, for the older kids at least, it comes down to the cash.

Hmm. I think I'm set on the School Rocket from BMS for the younger kids, or for the second graders at least. I think I'll get the dooDad or thingamajig for the first graders. As for the older kids, I think I'll go for the Baby Bertha. I'll most likely have an assistant, so I don't think getting the fins on straight will be a problem for the younger kids. Thanks guys! I'm pretty excited for this class to begin, even though its three months away.

Apogee Rockets has a whole page of bulk pack rockets, easy to build kits:

https://www.apogeerockets.com/bulk_rocket_kits.asp

From walking my nieces/nephew through a couple of beginners' kits, I think in many cases larger parts (i.e. BT-60, Baby or Big Bertha) are actually easier to handle than smaller ones, especially for younger kids who may not have a lot of small-detail dexterity just yet.

But pretty much all the kits discussed have been successful for kids in many class situations.

StefanJ said:

Getting kids to sit though a two hour "theory" class will be tough.

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You can figure out how to do hands-on stuff. Get one of those small pump-up water rockets to demonstrate propulsion. Tie rocks to parachutes and throw them up in the air. Tie a string around a rocket at the CG and swing it around your head to demonstrate stability.