The Water Bottle Rocket
Project
The pursuit of
cognitive abilities
Each year students in my physical
science classes at Streamwood High School utilize a Pitsco Water Bottle Rocket
launcher to culminate a unit in physics on kinematics. Launching water bottle
rockets provide great opportunities for students to apply knowledge and
understanding in physics and critically assess the motion of moving objects.
Students’ critical thinking skills
are tested as they take on the challenge of investigating how chosen fin designs
will impact the flight performance of water bottle rockets. This design challenge allows students to
creatively influence the engineering of rockets. It is a curriculum initiative that is not
only engaging with the students both physically and emotionally, but it also
positively influences their intrinsic motivation to learn.
This project allows students to
develop their own brainstorm ideas, work cooperatively with fellow students to
bring to fruition the testing of experimental designs and take pride in efforts
put forth to solve problems. Students
are able to evaluate experimental observations, diagnose evidence in support of
their hypothesis and eventually make judgement as to the superiority of one fin
design over another.
I believe that a project such as
the one detailed above is the means by which teachers can introduce to their
students a curriculum focused upon cognitive abilities. Students are given time to think about the
process of investigation, critically assess the methodology employed in testing
and keeping in mind why they are pursuing these goals that merit their efforts.
Roger Schank, Professor Emeritus
and founder of the renowned Institute for the Learning Science at Northwestern
University, writes in his book Teaching Minds, “Intelligence can be enhanced by practicing the cognitive processes that
are the basis of intelligent behavior and intelligent reasoning.” He continues this descriptive venue by
further writing, “Intelligence is the
ability to diagnose well, to plan well, and to be understand what causes
what. To do this one must be able to
reassess one’s belief system when new evidence is presented and one must be able
to explain one’s reasoning clearly to those who ask. And, one must have a knowledge base of
relevant information to draw upon.”
Twenty first century learning is
about meeting and improving the mindset students bring into the classroom. Students
become good at performing these cognitive processes which are life skills. The
fundamental cognitive processes such as, diagnoses, causation, planning,
prediction and judgement need to be mastered.
Therefore, a teacher’s mission should be to facilitate repeated
opportunities in school helping students develop cognitive abilities and skills
within each student and increasing their abilities to make evidence-based
judgement that are supported by experimentation and validate hypotheses. These are cognitive abilities that evolve
into essential life skills.
