Ogden Calendar

STEMshot! is a compressed air rocketry competition giving students the opportunity to engage in a challenging real-world problem based activity designed to enhance student’s critical thinking skills and understanding of next generation science content. Teams, grades 4-12, participate in two different competitions in two locations. One competition will take place in WKU’s Center for Research and Development facility (“the old mall”). Here participants will demonstrate their ability to work with multiple variables (launch angle, air pressure, rocket length & mass) to predict the performance of a rocket of their own design. The second competition, which could take place at the Aviation Heritage Park, will have students vying to launch a rocket with a single goal of having the longest flight time. While at the park, we hope that representatives of the Aviation Heritage Park Board could be present to share the stories of each of the planes in hopes to connect the student efforts directly with our past and their future.
The STEMshot! initiative is a collaborative effort between Western Kentucky University’s Ogden College (Department of Engineering & SKyTeach program) and the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC). GRREC serves 41 school districts providing professional learning opportunities to teachers and administrators with the sole purpose of increasing student success.
For more information, contact Brian Womack (Brian.Womack@grrec.ky.gov) at GRREC, or John Inman (john.inman@wku.edu) in WKU’s Ogden College of Science and Engineering.