Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2025 Newsletter can make learning STEAM principles simple, dynamic and creative. The activity born thanks to the inspiration provided by the NASA Education portal encouraged students to test, measure and improve their designs as real engineers, scientists, artists and mathematicians.
The data reported in Excel made it possible to return the collected data in the form of graphs that made the readability of the data much clearer and more intuitive.
In the construction of the rockets they carefully evaluated the choice of colors, the decorations to make each rocket unique in its kind, giving life to a real laboratory of aesthetic engineering. They also carefully designed the rocket cone and fins according to the principles of aerodynamics that they studied by watching several videos by John Collins, an origami enthusiast and paper airplane expert just like me.
After each launch, the students carried out an accurate data collection activity, reporting on a paper table in the notebook and then in Microsoft Excel( Fig. 3) the dimensions of the rocket cone( diameter, height), the distance travelled after each launch and any notes resulting from the observation of the trajectories and stability of the rocket in flight.
Evolving Design: From Paper Templates to Creativity in Minecraft EDU. After experimenting with the construction of rockets with simple sheets of paper, the activity moved into Minecraft EDU which allowed us to experience the engineering dimension of this exciting activity.
Inside Minecraft EDU, the students built rockets with the blocks of slime, observer, pistons powered by the redstone blocks and were thus able to simulate a realistic launch just like in space missions.
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