The Science Club Leaves the Classroom to Launch Rockets!
The Hico Science Club had their 8th annual rocket launch at George and Deborah Bales’ “Field of Dreams”. The students competed for the prizes: Highest Launch, Most Accurate Landing and the Mass Destruction Award. The winners were Trinity Rickel, Michael Guinn and Brian Martinez. The winner of the year-long competition was Javier Guerrero. He won a programmable drone.
The day was complimented by an RC airshow and racing drones. The Tarleton State University Aeronautics team also performed some rocket launches for the students.
Seven years ago, the science club had their first rocket launch at the old elementary school. Those 5th graders are now graduating seniors. Jeff Gentner said, “I was so proud that 4 of science club alumni came back for the Great Rocket Build-off. I handed them a box of miscellaneous parts and told them to build a rocket.” They built three rockets and launched them. It was an awesome day and a true celebration. By the way, all 4 of the alumni will be attending college next year.
Hico Schools will be building on the success of the Science Club with the Hico Rocket Team next year. Sixth graders will spend the year building their own rockets and launch controllers. They will build their electronic circuit. They will also design and 3D print their controller box. They will celebrate their success or failure at next year’s rocket launch.
At last count, there were 50 people in attendance at the launch. 5th grader, Reegan Brister put together a great video documenting the year.
The day was complimented by an RC airshow and racing drones. The Tarleton State University Aeronautics team also performed some rocket launches for the students.
Seven years ago, the science club had their first rocket launch at the old elementary school. Those 5th graders are now graduating seniors. Jeff Gentner said, “I was so proud that 4 of science club alumni came back for the Great Rocket Build-off. I handed them a box of miscellaneous parts and told them to build a rocket.” They built three rockets and launched them. It was an awesome day and a true celebration. By the way, all 4 of the alumni will be attending college next year.
Hico Schools will be building on the success of the Science Club with the Hico Rocket Team next year. Sixth graders will spend the year building their own rockets and launch controllers. They will build their electronic circuit. They will also design and 3D print their controller box. They will celebrate their success or failure at next year’s rocket launch.
At last count, there were 50 people in attendance at the launch. 5th grader, Reegan Brister put together a great video documenting the year.
The Science Club Presents to the School Board
Rocket Build Day!
By Kirsten Hemphill: At our last science club meeting, we built rockets for our upcoming annual Rocket Launch. We had a few steps to take before we finished, and yes one of them was getting glue all over us. We had to build the rockets and add elements to make the rockets fly and land safely. It was important for us to make sure we built the rockets correctly or the launch and landing will be a total disaster.
Our Rocket Launch is scheduled to take place on May 18, 2017 at the RC Airstrip. We will spend the day launching rockets, learning from the Tarleton State University Rocket Club, eating pizza, and winning awards. Three of the awards up for grabs are the Highest Launch, Best Landing, and the Most Destructive. While most of us built our rockets according to the directions, a few members of the science club intentionally built their rockets to ensure total destruction. Our upcoming Rocket Launch will definitely be a day to remember.
Our Rocket Launch is scheduled to take place on May 18, 2017 at the RC Airstrip. We will spend the day launching rockets, learning from the Tarleton State University Rocket Club, eating pizza, and winning awards. Three of the awards up for grabs are the Highest Launch, Best Landing, and the Most Destructive. While most of us built our rockets according to the directions, a few members of the science club intentionally built their rockets to ensure total destruction. Our upcoming Rocket Launch will definitely be a day to remember.
Programming Robots!
By Kaylee Johnson: In our 7th Science Club meeting we learned how to program robots to draw letters. We had to program it to do 90 degree turns & many other things. Our school principal, Mr. Eubanks choose 1st,2nd, & 3rd place winners for whoever had the best letters. We hung it up on one of our hallway walls. It was supposed to say “HICO ROBOSS!!” but it ended up saying “HICO ROBOS!” We spent around 2 hours programing them to write the letters. We had a lot of fun doing it and the first place letter was Ricardo Morales and Javier Guerrero’s letter R.
We learned with the Tarleton State Physics Club!
By Kirsten Hemphill: Our last science club meeting was very different from the normal meeting. This time we had physicist come to our school from Tarleton. It was the best meeting ever! The physicist brought a neat invention that shot smoke, they also brought an invention that uses electricity to raise your hair, and they brought a hovercraft that used a blower to lift us off of the ground. We also got to play with singing bottles.
The top physics student at Tarleton spoke to us and she's a girl!! She told us that some people say boys are smarter than girls and girls are smarter than boys but it doesn't matter the gender! You can be anything you want to be as long as you set your mind to it, try your hardest, and never give up!
The top physics student at Tarleton spoke to us and she's a girl!! She told us that some people say boys are smarter than girls and girls are smarter than boys but it doesn't matter the gender! You can be anything you want to be as long as you set your mind to it, try your hardest, and never give up!
We programmed robots!
By Kaylee Johnson: In our last Science Club meeting we programmed robots. We learned how to make it go forwards and backwards and even turn in circles. We made it play music. We also learned about the words called MICROPROCESSOR and ENCODER. The microprocessor is the brain of the robot. Mr. Gentner, our science club host, showed us how to make it move and he showed us how to make the lights go off and on. Some of us got ahead of him and we started putting different light patterns on it, and we put timing on it. Putting the timing on each action allowed us to tell the robot how long we wanted it do each thing. Once we created the sequence of activities, the robot would perform these actions over and over again. The robot also has sensors in it. We were able to make it see objects in front of and next to it and then have it change direction. The robot is also able to find lights in a room. Next robot meeting, we are going to use everything we have learned so far to create a huge sign.
We learned about multi-meters.
Author: Kirsten Hemphill - On Thursday, January 26, 2017, we learned about multimeters. We learned that you can check to see how much electricity something has. We were able to experiment with our multimeters by checking to see how much electricity a battery had, it was about 9-10 volts. We used the battery to turn on a light bulb and were able to change the color of the bulb. To make the bulb light, we connected the yellow wire to the negative side of the battery and then connected the colored wire to the positive side. We also experimented by turning our multimeters to Ohms and then wrote our names in cursive on a piece of paper. It was important to make sure our writing was dark and all of the letters were connected. When we used the multimeter to check for electricity, it was hard to believe, but we found that we had created a closed circuit that conducted electrical current. We also used between one and three batteries to power buzzers and fans. We found that the more batteries we used, the louder the buzzer and the faster the fan. We do fun things like this every time we meet! Science Club is AWESOME!
We made flashlights.
Article by: Kaylee Johnson - Vice President. We made flashlights at our last science club meeting in the colors of white and blue. They made the whole room light up. We also stuck our tongues to 9 volt batteries, which was kind of weird and it tingled a little. This is because, our saliva is a conductor of electricity and we felt the electrical current. A 9 volt battery has very little voltage, but we learned a higher voltage will cause the light to be brighter. Lastly, we learned about four important elements in a flashlight. They are a diode, resistor, circuit, and amperage. Science club is a great place to learn cool things and have lots of fun.
We made slime and lava lamps!
Article by Kirsten Hemphill – President. On Monday, October 10,2016, Hico Science Club made slime and lava lamps. To make the slime we mixed glue,water,and borax. The mixture of items made a special substance called a Polymer. A polymer is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its container like a liquid, yet you can hold it in your hands. You can also pick it up like a solid.
Next, we made lava lamps. We filled a water bottle to the half with water. Then we colored the water with food coloring and added glitter to give the water a nice look. After that, we filled the rest of the water bottle with oil. The water is more dense than the oil so it sank to the bottom and the oil floated to the top. We added alka-seltzer to mix the water and oil. When alka-seltzer dissolves it creates a gas. The gas is less dense than water and oil and the bubbles rise to the top. This created the lava lamp effect.
Next, we made lava lamps. We filled a water bottle to the half with water. Then we colored the water with food coloring and added glitter to give the water a nice look. After that, we filled the rest of the water bottle with oil. The water is more dense than the oil so it sank to the bottom and the oil floated to the top. We added alka-seltzer to mix the water and oil. When alka-seltzer dissolves it creates a gas. The gas is less dense than water and oil and the bubbles rise to the top. This created the lava lamp effect.
Hico Science Club Elects Officers
The Hico Science Club met on September 20th. They elected officers and voted for a club name and slogan. The officers are Kirsten Hemphill (President), Kaylee Johnson (Vice President) and Kellin Aardall (Secretary). Kellen will be in charge of taking attendance and tracking the points for each student throughout the year. Kellen’s point tally will indicate who wins the year long contest for a robot. Kirsten and Kaylee will be the face of the science club. They will be in charge of communicating the club’s activities.
The club also voted on the name and slogan for the year. Landen Ince and Reegan Bristan presented the club name of E=mcHammer! This is a slight twist on Einstein’s theory of special relativity: E=mc2. Carrying on with the Einstein theme, Mrs. Vinson presented the slogan, “You are living. You occupy space. You have mass. YOU MATTER!”.
The club is proud to announce that they set an attendance record this year. At last count, over 30 students signed up for the science club! The previous record was 28 students.
The club also voted on the name and slogan for the year. Landen Ince and Reegan Bristan presented the club name of E=mcHammer! This is a slight twist on Einstein’s theory of special relativity: E=mc2. Carrying on with the Einstein theme, Mrs. Vinson presented the slogan, “You are living. You occupy space. You have mass. YOU MATTER!”.
The club is proud to announce that they set an attendance record this year. At last count, over 30 students signed up for the science club! The previous record was 28 students.
This year's T-Shirts color options.
All 5th graders encouraged to join the Science Club
On September 15th, the Hico Science club had their first meeting. All of the 5th graders were encouraged to join the club. They reviewed activities from last year and looked forward to the 2016-2017 academic year. In previous years, the club has learned about chemical reactions, electricity, robots and rockets. In the meeting, a robot showed them how to make a circle by using only straight lines! The next meeting will be September 20th. The club will vote for the club name and slogan. They will also elect officers.