Grade 4 students at Essex Elementary School recently extended their Starlab portable planetarium experience by participating in a water rocketry STEM pilot project sponsored by the Office of Science, PreK-12.  Under the direction of Captain Tim Kent and assisted by 4^th grade teachers, Renee Johannes, Cindy Bennett, Mimi Boursalian, and Robert Gray, student teams constructed 23 water rockets which were later launched on the school playground.

   Each rocketry team was given the challenge of “engineering” a liquid-fueled water rocket that would fly higher than Dr. Robert Goddard’s first successful liquid-fueled rocket flight in 1926.  Robert Goddard is considered to be the “Father of Modern Rocketry” whose research eventually led to the Apollo Moon missions. However, his first liquid-fueled rocket flew for a mere altitude of only 41 feet and only 2 seconds of flight time!  The 4^th grade teams from Essex Elementary designed and constructed water rockets with the goal of besting Goddard’s first flight.

   In order to calculate the altitude of each rocket, the teams constructed “clinometers” and practiced using them during Starlab week in preparation for the launch day.  Integrated math skills such as measuring with a protractor and calculating mean altitudes from their data were developed throughout this project.

   On launch day (December 9, 2011), under perfect weather conditions, the entire student body of Essex Elementary along with members of the media witnessed with great excitement the Grade 4 scientists recording and calculating their scientific data as each rocket soared into the sky.  Many teams reported that their rocket did indeed break Goddard’s flight record!  Check out the following video clips and Photo Gallery that show that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are clearly alive and well at Essex Elementary!