Learning scenario “Mission to the Moon: Fly me to the Moon” By Barry McGuire helped me to develop my own learning scenario in the “Aerospace in Class”

The purpose of my lesson is to involve and stimulate children to learn about rocket flight. The students designed and programmed the rocket to show the importance of aerodynamics. They also learned about various forces that can affect their missiles.

During this lesson, students:

• Identified the main features of rockets designed for space travel

• Identified the design features required for a safe space flight

• Created and made their own rocket

• Tested the flight of the missile they developed and reviewed the findings. The children watched the video “Launch into space”, https://www.airbus.com/virtual.html?uuid=9fe99504-d265-47a9-9b5c-ad74843ae7f4&title=Airbus-Foundation-Discovery-Space:-Launching-into-space created by the Airbus Discovery Space Foundation. After watching the video, the students discussed the word “Aerodynamics”. They discussed why one shape is more aerodynamic than another, and where they could see it in the world around them.

The questions asked include:

– How exactly does a rocket engine work?

– What factors will affect your space launch?

– How can we design an aerodynamic rocket to fly to the moon? After discussing these features, we looked at “How to Fly in Space”https://www.airbus.com/virtual.html?uuid=051b9bfc-794c-45c4-8b9f-089ad7ca0072&title=Airbus-Foundation-Discovery-Space-How-to-fly-in-space and discussed what gravity means and how it will affect rocket launch and flight.

The questions asked include:

– What does gravity do?

– How does gravity affect you?

– Is gravity the same on the earth and the moon?

After studying and understanding the theoretical material, the children began to perform tasks. Fifth, sixth and seventh graders at https://scratch.mit.edu/ created their own models of missiles and made them fly. The children used cyclic and branching algorithms to make their rocket travel more realistically in space.

Eighth graders wrote a python program that calculated the speed of a rocket in space depending on various parameters. Tenth graders at https://www.tinkercad.com/classrooms

have developed models of spacecraft. The children took into account the main aspects of aerodynamics.

In this learning scenario, children thought creatively and were innovative in their design and how they applied their learning to their project. When designing their rockets, children encountered some problems and were asked to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to find a solution.

Teamwork, communication and collaboration with each other are vital skills for children that will allow them to progress effectively at every step of the process.