Students at Lakes District Secondary School got to fire home made rockets off in the field by the school, as part of a project led by teacher Blaine Hastings.
Lakes District News spoke to Hastings about where the idea for the project came from. “I’ve been doing this project with a Grade 9 rotation class that lasts six weeks. These students have completed a rotation in Grade 8 last year,” said Hastings.
“In my class they had an introduction to basic metal work skills as well as aerodynamics with a rocket car unit, where they make a model dragster that is powered by a CO2 cartridge and raced down hallway at the end of the rotation. This year, presented with a Grade 9 rotation, the model rocketry unit was a good transition.”
Hastings added that the project teaches students planning and design, aerodynamics, finishing techniques and is an introduction to a fun hobby. Each student in the class designs, constructs and launches their own rocket in a process that takes six weeks of the course.
“We have just started with the second of three groups this week. The project will continue with this group and one more after that, taking us to the end of the semester in February,” said Hastings.
According to Hastings, the first group had a very successful launch, with most of the students doing three different launches and recoveries with three powered engines; A, B and C.
“The C power engine can and did propel rockets to well over 300m.” said Hastings.
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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
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