Teaching the Scientific Method with Paper Rockets

Background Information for Teachers

This section contains a quick review for teachers of the science and concepts covered in this lesson.

This lesson is designed to guide your students through the steps of the scientific method (Figure 1) using a fun, hands-on project: paper rockets. You can read about the scientific method in much more detail in this guide.

Your students will build small rockets out of paper and tape. While your students will do their own background research about rockets, it will help if you know a little about them before you start the lesson. The rockets are propelled forward by a puff of air from a straw. This force is called thrust. While in flight, they are slowed down by air resistance, or drag, and pulled down toward Earth by their weight.

Unlike the wings on a paper airplane, the small fins on the rocket do not generate very much lift, or upward force. Instead, the fins keep the rocket stable, helping it fly straight without flipping over or tumbling. Factors like the length and width of the rocket, and the size, shape, and location of the fins, can all affect how far it flies. Your students can use these factors to do a simple experiment by, for example, building rockets with three different lengths (Figure 2) and measuring how far they go.

Additional Background Links

• Steps of the Scientific Method, Science Buddies
• What Is a Rocket?, NASA
• How Rockets Work, NASA
• Rocket Aerodynamics, NASA
• Rocket aerodynamics, Science Learning Hub

Prep Work (5 minutes)

• Build one rocket yourself so you have it ready as a demonstration for the class. See this video for instructions.
• Search online for some pictures and videos of real rockets that you can show your students.

Engage (10 minutes)

1. Show the class some pictures and videos of real rockets.
2. Show the class your paper rocket and how to launch it. Explain that since we cannot build real rockets in the classroom, we will use paper rockets to do an experiment and learn about rockets.

Explore (90 minutes)

Guide your class through the steps of the scientific method, using paper rockets as an example. Use the student worksheet as a guide. You may choose to assign some of these steps as homework instead of doing them in class.

1. Ask a Question. Each student should come up with a question to be tested with an experiment using the paper rockets. For example, "How does the length of a paper rocket affect how far it flies?" Some questions might not be possible to answer with the paper rocket models. For example, "Which rocket fuel works best?" is not feasible since these rockets do not use fuel.
2. Do Background Research. Students should think about aspects of the paper rockets that relate to their question, and do related background research about real rockets.
3. Construct a Hypothesis. Students will need to identify the independent, dependent, and control variables in their experiments. They should make a hypothesis about what will happen to the dependent variable if they change the independent variable.
   • Independent variable: what you change in an experiment.
   • Dependent variable(s): what you measure and/or observe in an experiment.
   • Control variable(s): what you need to keep the same throughout the experiment (e.g. type of paper).
   • Hypothesis: an educated guess, based on all the information you know so far, about what will happen to the dependent variable when you change the independent variable.
4. Test with an Experiment. Students should carefully list all the materials required and write out the procedure they will follow before they start their experiments. They need to figure out how they will take measurements, how they will keep their control variables constant, and how many trials they will do.

Reflect (90 minutes)

1. Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions. Students should analyze and graph their data using grade-level appropriate math (e.g. calculating averages) to determine the relationship between their independent and dependent variables. Do their results support their hypothesis? Remind them that it is OK if they do not! Sometimes scientists are wrong, but they still learn from their experiments.
2. Communicate results. You can decide how you want students to communicate about their experiment. Options include just turning in their worksheet, a written report, an oral presentation, and/or a poster. Emphasize that students should explain the entire process they went through, starting with the question they asked—not just the quantitative results of their experiment.

Assess

Use your students' final deliverables (worksheet, report, presentation, and/or poster) as assessments for this lesson.

Make Career Connections

There are many different types of scientists who use the scientific method to explore the natural world. You can read about them on Science Buddies' science careers page.