Now that Sophie and I have finished our rocket and have launched, I feel really happy with how everything turned out, along with how much work we've put into it throughout this entire process. We've put a lot of work into the craftsmanship of our rocket, which has been completely worth it. The rocket looks exactly as we envisioned it. One thing that really stands out to me is our nozzle. We could have just used a pvc pipe cap and completely thrown out our idea of making our rocket very cartoon like in shape. Instead, we pursued our original idea and found a different way to achieve the look we were going for. Even though it took us much longer to hand make the nozzle, I feel that it looks much better. Throughout this project I've learned a lot more about how to find the center of mass and thrust, along with making sure both are balanced how they're supposed to be. I liked learning about that because it's something that contributes largely to the flight of the rocket. To me I found it interesting that just having the center of thrust a little above the center of mass could greatly change the rocket's flight than having the center of mass above the center of thrust. With this project I didn't really learn any new information about how I learn or my work tendencies, but I did start realizing more that sometimes I will put off my blog updating. I've realized that I will usually update a couple times throughout the process, but will typically update a lot near the end. From this experience, I've learned that I need continuously update my page and maybe to keep a schedule or plan on when to post every week.
During the entire rocket project I worked with Sophie. I think that overall we worked really well together. In the past we've worked together so we already knew a lot about how each other works, which was definitely a benefit throughout this process. We both split the work equally between the two of us. Both of us worked on each piece of the rocket together and equally documented the process. If I was to do this project again, there wouldn't be much that I would do differently. Maybe if we had more time I would make the rocket body tapered because Sophie and I really wanted to originally. Also maybe looking at how some real constellations look and paint those on instead of random painted stars. Other than those two things there isn't really anything I would want to change if I redid the rocket. For the next class that does this project, the advice I would give them is to plan out when and how they want to get stuff done because the deadline comes sooner than you think it will. Also to use your time as wisely as you can because there's a lot to do to build the rockets.
Overall, I thought Andrew did a great job with this project. I liked how much freedom he gave us with every aspect of our rocket. He didn't really limit people to their designs and encouraged people to do something different. Next time maybe give just a couple more days to the building of the rockets because it definitely felt rushed. Also maybe have a day of class every week or so for students to update everything that they did over the past couple days on their blog, but then again that is also the students' responsibility on their own planning so maybe not. I liked how the project was structured so there isn't much that I would want changed or done differently. I especially loved everyone going out to Fiesta Island to go launch the finished rockets. All in all, I thought this was a fun project and I really enjoyed the freedom we had with our rockets.
During the entire rocket project I worked with Sophie. I think that overall we worked really well together. In the past we've worked together so we already knew a lot about how each other works, which was definitely a benefit throughout this process. We both split the work equally between the two of us. Both of us worked on each piece of the rocket together and equally documented the process. If I was to do this project again, there wouldn't be much that I would do differently. Maybe if we had more time I would make the rocket body tapered because Sophie and I really wanted to originally. Also maybe looking at how some real constellations look and paint those on instead of random painted stars. Other than those two things there isn't really anything I would want to change if I redid the rocket. For the next class that does this project, the advice I would give them is to plan out when and how they want to get stuff done because the deadline comes sooner than you think it will. Also to use your time as wisely as you can because there's a lot to do to build the rockets.
Overall, I thought Andrew did a great job with this project. I liked how much freedom he gave us with every aspect of our rocket. He didn't really limit people to their designs and encouraged people to do something different. Next time maybe give just a couple more days to the building of the rockets because it definitely felt rushed. Also maybe have a day of class every week or so for students to update everything that they did over the past couple days on their blog, but then again that is also the students' responsibility on their own planning so maybe not. I liked how the project was structured so there isn't much that I would want changed or done differently. I especially loved everyone going out to Fiesta Island to go launch the finished rockets. All in all, I thought this was a fun project and I really enjoyed the freedom we had with our rockets.