Have a Great Summer

Enjoy high school.  You'll be missed.

3, 2, 1... blast off

Today, we launched our first rockets, took note of our observations, and began our rocket research. 
Over the next week, all students will be conducting 3 levels of rocket research 101- The Three Laws and Propulsion, 102- Stability- Center of Gravity and Pressure, and 103- Drag.  All students should be finished with their research by the end of this week.  The goal of this week is to understand the basic premises of rocket design. 
Next week, students will be putting their knowledge, reasoning, and communication skills to work as they design, build, and conduct trails with their rockets. 
After all the trails are conducted and rockets have been tested, students will reflect back over their designs and their understanding of the laws of motion and factors that affect rockets such as drag, lift, center of pressure, and center of gravity.
This project is the culmination of a year's worth of work, so this will be a major part of my assessment of each student's knowledge, reasoning, and communication skills for their term 3 grade.

This week's COW is COW 29.  Students who have already met the standard for a system of inequalities COW are now COW-free for the year and excused from this assignment. 

COW # 28 and Angles and Lines

COW #28

Geometry Project- Lines and Angles
Don't forget about your IXL! 

After spring break, rockets and Pythagoras! 

On to Bottle Rockets- or back to Heavy Lifting

As the last official portfolio eligible projects were turned in today, all students will now move forward to either work to revise their Rocket Racer or Heavy Lifting project OR move on to create experiments involving bottle rockets.

Each student will design his/her own bottle rocket to launch.
Prior to launching rockets, each student should complete
NASA Rocket Education 101-103
Projectile Motion Phet

Comparison of a NASA Rocket to a Bottle Rocket
For those students who are ready to move on, please take a look at the following:
Bottle Rocket Design Options:
The MR. Hayhurst
The NASA Rocket

Heavy Lifting Project and COW #26

This week is an important one in MST for many of you, as the heavy lifting project is the second to last portfolio eligible project for the year.  The Heavy Lifting Project is due on Monday the 21st.  Please use the rubric below to help you to meet the standard. 

Heavy Lifting Rubric- Project DUE Monday, March 21, 2011

COW #26- DUE Friday, March 18, 2011

Cow 25- Bringing it all together.

In COW 25 , you will demonstrate your ability to set up and solve a system of equations using all three methods: graphing, algebraic-elimination, and algebraic-substitution.
Make sure to see me in the mornings this week if you need help with this work.

You MUST understand these three procedures in order to be successful as we move on into systems of inequalities.

Graphing Inequalities in Two Variables

This week we are moving off the number line and into two dimensions as we graph inequalities in two variables.

Cow #24

Purple Math
VIDEO Example

We will also begin our formal study of rockets. Beginning with the Ares V.