Liberty Middle School Robotics Students Launch Into the Engineering Design Process, 10/1/2026

Students in Robotics Enrichment at Liberty Middle School recently took their classroom learning to new heights, designing, building, and launching their own rockets as the culmination of a unit on forces and motion. The project challenged each student to put scientific concepts into action and see firsthand how their design choices affected flight.

Throughout the unit, students studied the physics that govern flight, including thrust, drag, and stability, along with Newton's Laws of Motion. They then applied that knowledge as they planned and built their rockets, making design decisions, testing their ideas, and learning from what worked and what didn't. While each student built a rocket of their own, the shared launch experience allowed classmates to learn from one another as they watched different designs take flight.

Mr. Reisdorff kicked off the final stage of the project with a demonstration launch of his own rocket, setting an aspirational distance for students to chase. Students then launched their rockets multiple times, giving them the chance to analyze each result, adjust their designs, and try again. That cycle of testing and refining sits at the heart of the engineering design process and mirrors the way professional engineers approach real-world problems.

The goal of the rocket project is to give students an authentic experience with engineering design while building problem-solving, observation, and critical-thinking skills. And, as the students discovered on launch day, putting all of that learning into action can be a lot of fun. Projects like this reflect PLCS's commitment to hands-on, inquiry-based learning that helps students connect scientific principles to the world around them.