Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University. Credit: Michael Francis.
On Tuesday 12th July seven teams of Year 9 students from five local schools across Milton Keynes battled it out to win the fourth annual Water Rocket Competition.
Inspired by the OU/BBC co-production Rough Science, each team of six students was provided with the same kit. From this they were asked to design and build two water rockets, one to fly the furthest horizontal distance, the other to hit a target.
Guided by two OU postgraduate researchers from the School of Physical Sciences, Alice Dunford and Matthew Lewis, the students adapted their designs incrementally based on data collected from each test launch.
Alice Dunford and Matthew Lewis (The Open University) deliver the briefing to students and teachers. Credit: Gareth Davies.