Rockets and Projectiles

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). Studying rockets captures the imagination of many students, as well as providing real-life applications of Newton’s laws of motion.

The booklet looks at the differences between rockets and projectiles, the way they move and the forces that cause this.

The activities offer opportunities to apply ideas about forces and motion in stimulating and interesting contexts, and deal with aspects of how science works such as sources of uncertainty, the evaluation of experimental procedures and the use of scientific models.

The Rockets and Projectiles booklet contains an illustrated overview of the topic with suggestions for teachers on how to introduce the ideas in the classroom, plus student activity sheets and notes for teachers and technicians.

The downloadable resources include:

• Student activities: zip files containing the activity sheets in PDF and editable Word formats.

• PowerPoint presentations: these contain a complete set of the images used in the booklet and activity sheets.

The ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ publications are supported by low-cost practical resources available from Mindsets