Fifth Grade Project Success

A rocket-science project at Tate's School of Discovery has fifth-graders talking in electrical lingo. They mumble about volts, short circuits and misfirings before the "Three-two-one, blast off!" shout comes.

Students spend several class periods creating a rocket from a kit - all while learning about electricity and how it works and affects daily life.

Teacher Rebecca Preston said students begin learning as early as first grade that it isn't just the flip of a switch that turns on a light. Rather, it is the wires and mechanisms behind the switch plate that make light happen.

So by the time students reach the fifth grade and begin working on fifth grade science projects learning about the engine capabilities of a rocket, they understand the power of electricity. Preston points out that every launch isn't successful. And that becomes a lesson, as well. "The students have to troubleshoot and figure out the root of the problem," she said.

When the decorated and named rockets do launch, with the help of a special programmable computer, it "is a hands-on learning experience the children will never forget," said Shelley Pratt, a teacher who collaborates with Preston for the rocket-science project.

"Not even 10 or 20 years from now will I forget how much fun the rocket project was," said Sterling Bowery, 10.

Something else Sterling won't forget is how one of the rockets got stuck in the gutter of a nearby home.

When 11-year-old Lillian Hogan's rocket went missing, Sterling said, he thought it may have "been abducted." But later he learned it had landed on a car.

Come spring, the students will submit the rocket-science project as part of fifth grade science projects for Tate's Elementary Regional Science Fair, which is open to other area schools.

It's something Neal Jochmann is looking forward to. But in the meantime, the 11-year-old said he educates his parents about circuits and how electricity works.