By Mr Jeffryes (Head of Mathematics)

For their transdisciplinary STEM project, Year 7 had the opportunity to build a rocket, starting with a 2-litre bottle and adding their own design and colour to it. On Thursday 7th and Friday 8th March, they then had the opportunity to launch their rocket high into the air (in theory!) and measure the horizontal distance it travelled, learning much about science as well as maths along the way.

The students are now analysing their data, finding average distances, ranges, and drawing bars and charts using Google Sheets, developing their Computer Science skills with Mrs Burtenshaw, which they learned from the last half term.

Aaliyah Meghji (Year 7) reflected: “I really enjoyed this rocket project, my rocket flew well but definitely had room for improvement. It flew very straight but not that far, only 10 metres. I think if it was streamlined it would have gone further and not gone down straight away. While launching our rockets we saw first-hand the scientific process in action. We filled our rockets with water, put them on a ramp and then used a foot pump to pump air into them. After lots of pumping and hard work our rockets eventually flew off and we then used a tape measure to record the distance of how far they flew. I used a cone as I thought it would make it look more like a rocket but it also helped the overall shape of my rocket. I have learnt a lot about aerodynamics and how to use different equipment to conduct an experiment.”

Eve Maudlin (Year 7) added: “The rocket experiment was really fun because we got to design, make and launch the rocket and get to see how far it goes. My rocket went really well because it did not break and it travelled 10.5m. I could have improved on my design and made it sturdier because my wings were only made of paper and I could have made them cardboard. It was really fun launching it, we had to press down on the pump really hard and fast to get the air into the rocket so it could fly! We used the rocket design to help it go further because it had wings that could make it go faster through the air..”