Students will enter the project through a role-based rocket launch simulation, examine sample flight evidence, and generate initial investigable questions about how a water bottle rocket’s height changes over time.

Students will investigate a puzzling rocket-flight pattern, refine a testable question and hypothesis about rocket height over time, and create a clear plan for collecting and analyzing launch data with a quadratic model before the full investigation begins.

Students will organize launch evidence, build and test quadratic trajectory models, interpret key graph features, and prepare evidence-based claims about the accuracy and limits of their rocket analysis before the final showcase.

Students will present their completed water bottle rocket trajectory analyses in a Rocket Trajectory Gallery Walk and showcase, defend how their quadratic models predict maximum height and landing point, and reflect on the accuracy and limits of their conclusions using evidence from their data, graphs, and equations.