{"id":1335,"date":"2013-12-04T11:56:05","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T11:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2013-12-04T11:56:05","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T11:56:05","slug":"fly-us-to-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/archives\/1335","title":{"rendered":"Fly us to the moon…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Diane<\/a>
Diane Ford, Engaging Opportunities Project Manager<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

Engaging opportunties: Water rocket competition<\/strong>
\nIn July 2013 five teams of six Year 9 students and one team of six Year 10 students from Slated Row Special School competed in a competition to launch water rockets. The teams, representing five schools from Milton Keynes, were judged on the distance the rockets flew, whether they could successful land an egg, and the design of their rockets.<\/p>\n

The teams were supported on the day of the competition by Open University researchers, staff from Denbigh School and teachers from their home schools. The organising team included: Richard Holliman, Mike Bullivant, Vic Pearson, Kris Stutchbury, Peter Taylor, Mike Batham and me from the OU, and Andy Squires and Val Hawthorne from Denbigh School.<\/p>\n

A panel of judges, including the Mayor of Milton Keynes Brian White and Professor Peter Taylor from the OU, assessed the entries. The team from Milton Keynes Academy were the winners, launching their rocket over 90m. They received a trophy, which was designed at Denbigh School. All the competitors received a replica of this trophy in the form of a key ring.<\/p>\n

As Project Manager<\/a> for the project I was responsible for the organisation from the Open University side of things, working closely with Val Hawthorne from Denbigh School.<\/p>\n

\"Engaging<\/a>
Engaging Opportunities Water Rocket Competition; July 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

School-university engagement<\/strong>
\nThe competition was part of a wider School-University Partnership Initiative to provide school students with opportunities to engage directly with research and researchers from different academic disciplines, offering opportunities to participate in mutual learning and develop relevant and useful skills and competencies in how to access, assess, analyse and respond to contemporary research.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Rocket<\/a>
A rocket launches under the watchful eye of Mike Bullivant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Within our project, called Engaging opportunities, there are four types of activities: Open Lectures; Open Dialogues, Open Inquiry; and Open Creativity. The water rocket activity was organised as an inquiry-based activity.<\/p>\n

As part of the funding proposal we agreed to develop plans for two annual competitions, based on the success of the Rough Science<\/em> Open University\/BBC co-production. This was the first of these competitions to be run and we were lucky to work with Mike Bullivant and Peter Taylor, both architects of Rough Science, in developing this activity. Mike, in particular, was instrumental to the success of the competition.<\/p>\n

Rough Science<\/em> promoted a methodology based on creativity and hands-on problem solving, using household goods and materials. The aim in this case was to demonstrate scientific principles and skills, such as developing and testing a hypothesis, and through this to:<\/p>\n