Rocket scientists on their way to the deep space

We spent a fun day in Akrtikum at kids’ science week. During that week many elementary and primary school students came to do different tasks. I have no idea what the other tasks were just so you know. We PreIBs had two different tasks for the students. We built rockets with third graders and launched them into the sky. With 9th graders we used the parallax method to measure the height of the ceiling in Arktikum. The rockets were built of paper and everyone got to design and decorate their own rocket. There were many imaginative and different rockets decorated with different shapes and patterns. The rockets were then launched outside by using an empty plastic bottle which had pressure inside it. The bottle was connected to a pipe and the rocket was placed on the other side of the pipe. All you had to do was jump on the bottle and the rocket flew impressively long distance. I think we had as much fun as the kids when launching the rockets. We had interesting conversations about planets and rockets with the kids while we were still doing them. Sometimes it felt that they knew more things about space than we did. Using the parallax method was interesting. I’m not going to explain the whole process because I don’t remember everything. Basically we just measured the angle of the ceiling by using a wooden plank which had a thread hanging from it. This was probably the easiest part. After that there was a whole lot of calculating. The results were very close to the real height of the ceiling so I think everyone did well. While doing the calculations we talked about IB diploma programme with the 9th graders and I’m pretty sure we had a good impact on them, at least I hope so. The group I was with seemed very enthusiastic about the task even though it was math (sorry math teachers). There was another math task for the 9th graders but to be honest I don’t think that many groups actually did it. The first task was hard enough especially with the calculations. But overall everything went smoothly and everyone had fun. We preIBs definitely want to do something like this again and one of the reasons might be because we didn’t have to sit in class.


Kuvateksti: The IB Rocket

Kirjoittaja: Taika Karinen, PRE IB