Students will observe a model rocket launch, document what they can and cannot yet explain, and begin the project by building initial motion, force, and energy questions in their engineering notebooks. They will compare evidence and questions across teams and classes, then leave Phase 1 with a shared driving question, a first motion record, and a peer-checked investigation focus that prepares them for measurement planning in the next phase.

Students will turn early launch observations and motion ideas into a credible investigation plan by refining questions, building shared measurement conventions, testing data-collection options, and completing a peer-reviewed method they can use in the next phase for force, momentum, and motion evidence gathering.

Students will carry out controlled Newton’s second law and momentum trials, document traceable raw measurements in engineering notebooks, check data quality through calibration and repeatability routines, and use peer critique to strengthen methods before moving into formal analysis.

Students will turn their raw investigation records into interpretable physics evidence by building graphs, calculating relationships, testing momentum claims, and revising conclusions after critique. They will compare competing interpretations, account for uncertainty and anomalies, and connect their mathematical models back to the original launch-related questions and engineering decisions.

Students will consolidate their force, momentum, motion, and uncertainty findings into defensible claims, use critique to strengthen an engineering portfolio and documentary-style report, and convert those conclusions into a revised recovery-device test plan for the upcoming public rocket launch and exhibition.

Students will present their rocket launch evidence and engineering portfolio to an authentic audience, defend their physics reasoning with data, gather final critique from peers and community partners, and complete an individual reflection that identifies what they learned, where their model was limited, and what they would revise next.