FORT JACKSON, S.C. (May 8, 2014) -- Dozens of rockets launched last week from C.C. Pinckney Elementary School, aimed toward distant satellites throughout the solar system.
These rockets weren't powered by anything as untenable as gun powder, rocket fuel or nuclear energy. They were propelled by the most combustible force on the planet -- the imagination.
Third grade students spent the afternoon constructing rockets made of plastic under the guidance of Sharon Lone, Operation Military Kids of South Carolina coordinator.
"The kids get the materials and have a coach, who helps them take that PVC pipe wrap, a rubber band and make fins for the rocket," Lone said. "They build a rocket that they can launch with their hand. It teaches trajectory, which is angle of attack, and their mission was to land on Mars, Saturn or Neptune. They got prizes if they landed on that planet."
The "planets" were bean bags placed at strategic locations in a school hallway, with Neptune being the most distant. Rockets were selected for the day's activity because they stress the core principles of STEM learning: science, technology, engineering and math.
STEM studies are based on the idea of educating students in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Instead of teaching them as separate subjects, STEM combines them into a unified learning experience with relevance to actual problems.
"Operation Military Kids in South Carolina has decided to focus on STEM as we support our military families," Lone said. "We'd like to encourage kids to take science classes. Our workforce is a little weak in that area. By having activities like this one that NASA provided for us, hopefully we'll inspire them to take a class in science or math that they might not have taken."
For one of the day's coaches, Staff Sgt. Scott Wangsness, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 171st Infantry Brigade, it was just a fun afternoon spent helping children.
"It pretty easy, because the kids already knew what they had to do," Wangsness said. "We had to show them how key gravity was to the objective: How to aim with one hand and to shoot at an angle. They were just having a lot of fun."
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