For every action

there is an equal and opposition reaction

- Newton's Third Law

The Woodlawn third graders are learning how the force from a simple kick can change the motion and direction of a soccer ball.  They also observed that the soccer ball does not keep rolling forever; other forces try to slow down the ball - friction, gravity, and the push of the classroom wall.  We practiced these words in the classroom with the fun game 'snapshot' where the student teams had to act out a vocabulary work in front of the class

Using their new vocabulary words, the class were ready to test Newton's Third Law with stomp rockets.  Each student was able to set up the rocket launcher, apply force with their foot on the rocket pad, and observe and measure the equal and opposite reaction of the rocket flight.  By the end of the class each student was able to predict which angle could make the rocket fly the furthest, either vertically or horizontally.

On the second day the class was able to measure a smaller 'reaction rocket' in the classroom and record the height of the rocket flight from different drop points.  We graphed their results and could make a hypothesis as to how high a rocket could fly from a 2m drop!

Check out more photos of our 3rd grade Woodlawn Rocket Launchers!