Rocket Math
By: Natasha Smith, Mariana Rosas, Paloma Vergara, & Melisa Sanchez-Leyva
This modeling lesson is for an 8th-grade classroom and is focused on the standards CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.F.A.3 and CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.F.B.5. This lesson introduces students to the concept of nonlinear functions. In the lesson, students will be able to explore the concept of a nonlinear function and expand their knowledge of what a function can look like.
This lesson follows a similar format to Dan Meyers’ 3 Acts. Students will start by watching a video of a model rocket launch. Individually, they will quickly draw a graph of what they think the relationship between the height of the rocket and time is. Next, they will work in groups to plot the points estimating the relationship of the height of the rocket at each second. Lastly, the teacher will take them outside and launch a model rocket to prove or disprove students’ theories. The model rocket will have a Pocketlab attached to it which will provide an exact graph of the height of the rocket at each time point. Students will compare their graphs to the Pocketlab graph. We decided to launch the rocket again instead of providing students with a graph from the original launch in the final act as it adds an element of excitement to the activity and the students will enjoy going outside to watch the rocket launch.
This lesson incorporates multiple types of technology. For the video used in the lesson, teachers would achieve best results by filming their own rocket launch as they will want to use the exact same type of model rocket in both the video and the in-class launch. The video representation should be similar to this video. Students will also be using the website Desmos to graph points. Lastly, the teacher will be using a Pocketlab. The Pocketlab is a wireless sensor that can be attached to different objects and will record different types of data and output graphs. For this lesson, the Pocketlab can be attached to the model rocket and will record the height (altitude) of the rocket as time passes.