School Launch

Courses · Science, Making and the Arts · Grades 3–12

Young Engineers & Physics

Rockets that land themselves, satellites overhead, radio, electric motors and cars, tunnels and tube travel, and solar power. Three hands-on courses take the engineering behind SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, The Boring Company and the Hyperloop idea and scale it down to builds a family can do at home, with the math, the physics and the safety rules to go with them.

First edition3 courses36 lessons and 9 labs eachPrintables PDF

Choose a level

  1. Grades 3–5 · ages 8–11

    Builders

    Wonder and hands-on building for grades 3–5: towers and egg drops, stomp rockets, parachutes, orbits on a string, a crystal radio, a simple motor, rubber-band and kit cars, a sandbox tunnel and a solar oven.

    Open the course → Printables PDF

  2. Grades 6–8 · ages 11–14

    Makers

    Kits, data and design iterations: water rockets with parachutes, satellite tracking, a weather-satellite radio receiver, RC electric cars, a magnet-levitation track and a small solar charger, with the math and physics behind each.

    Open the course → Printables PDF

  3. Grades 9–12 · ages 14–18

    Engineers

    Real calculations, simulation and competition-ready builds for high school: the rocket equation and OpenRocket, PID control, orbital mechanics and a CubeSat-style payload, link budgets and the FCC Technician exam, motor efficiency, a 24–36 V electric soapbox, tube pressure loads and a 100 W off-grid solar system.

    Open the course → Printables PDF

How the track works

Every level follows the same nine units, deeper each time:

  1. Thinking Like an Engineer
  2. How Rockets Fly
  3. Reusable Rockets and Landing
  4. Satellites and Orbits
  5. Radio and Communication
  6. Electric Motors and Batteries
  7. Building an Electric Vehicle
  8. Tunnels and Tube Travel
  9. Solar Power and the Capstone

In each unit, three lessons teach the idea, its history and the math, with worked examples and practice that have step-by-step answers. The fourth lesson is a build-and-test lab with a parts list, rough costs and a supervision level (🟢 adult nearby, 🔵 adult present, 🔴 adult hands-on). Students keep an Engineer’s Notebook and use the design cycle: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Build, Test, Improve, Share.

Safety comes first. Rocketry follows the NAR Model Rocket Safety Code, with an adult handling every motor. Students wire only low-voltage DC, and the high-school ceiling is F/G model rocket motors flown by an adult and a 24–36 V electric soapbox on a closed course.

Each course ends with a “Where this leads” guide to majors, jobs and trades. Related courses: Engineering & Physics, Shop & Trades, High School Geology and Earth Science.