https://nifa.usda.gov/ 

program/4-h-positiveyouth-development 

National Institute 

of Food 

and Agriculture 

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture 

LESSON PLAN: TEAMWORK ACTIVITY 1.11 

LESSON DETAILS INTRODUCTION 

ROCKET POWER CHALLENGE II 

A FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP FOR STEM EDUCATION 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS

FOR LIFE 

National Aeronautics 

and Space 

Administration 

 

 

AGE/GRADE LEVEL 

Elementary School 

LEARNER OUTCOMES 

Youth will identify ways to efectively 

communicate with members of a 

team, recorgnize that there are many 

ways to solve a problem, and define 

teamwork and team roles. 

SUCCESS INDICATORS 

Youth will demonstrate patience, 

respect and appreciation of team 

members; respect team member 

roles and responsibilities and assign 

tasks and understand workload. 

LIFE SKILLS 

Critical thinking and innovation, 

collaboration, social skills 

NATIONAL STANDARDS 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 

Prepare for and participate efectively in a range of conversations and 

collaborations with diverse partners, 

building on others’ ideas and 

expressing their own clearly 

and persuasively. 

21st Century Learning and Innovation Skills: Learning and innovation 

skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate 

students who are prepared for 

increasingly complex life and work 

environments in the 21st century, 

and those who are not. A focus on 

creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential 

to prepare students for the future. 

PREP TIME 

15 minutes for room set up 

ACTIVITY TIME 

50 minutes 

MATERIALS LIST 

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device 

More supplies may be needed 

depending upon the size of the group 

HANDOUTS 

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SUGGESTED SPACE 

Indoors, one table or other flat 

surface for each team 

SUGGESTED GROUP SIZE 

4 youth per team, any number of 

teams can be involved. 

REFERENCES 

It Takes A NASA Village 

http://astropeggy.tumblr.com/ 

Building Your Programs 20 Minutes 

at a Time — Leadership and Reflection Activities You Can Use ! 

www.extension.umn.edu/youth/ 

research/quality/docs/buildingyour-programs-book-one.pdf 

5 Ways Youth Can Be Good Team 

Members 

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/ 

five_ways_youth_can_be_good_ 

team_members 

NASA Teamwork 

https://science.nasa.gov/sciencenews/science-at-nasa/2005/10jan_ 

teammeup 

I

t Takes a NASA Village...To Train an 

Astronaut is a blog by Commander 

Peggy Whitson to showcase some of the 

many people and jobs that support astronauts before, during, and after their missions. Each person has a role to play, 

working as a team for mission success 

This blog highlights the larger story of NASA 

with a compilation of individual perspectives on 

what is currently taking place to propel spaceflight forward. Like the many parts of a rocket, 

NASA couldn’t exist without its passionate 

employees. 

The goal is to inspire a younger generation to 

pursue education and future job potential in 

science, technology, engineering and mathrelated fields. This blog is an opportunity for 

future NASA villagers to get the inside scoop on 

how to achieve their dreams, see funny behindthe-story scenes and understand the complexity 

of the many projects the community works on. 

Every villager has their own unique strengths 

and weaknesses that they bring to the team. 

Understanding these strengths and weaknesses 

can assist you in developing a balanced team of 

people. 

Understanding the roles that people naturally 

tend to take will help you decide the responsibilities of each team member. Therefore, if you 

know which role each team member enjoys 

fulfilling, it can assist you in providing your team 

members with motivating tasks. 

To efectively manage a team you need to have a 

clear understanding of the roles people play as 

members of the team. 

continued next page >> 
PAGE 2

LESSON PLAN: ACTIVITY 1.11 

ROCKET POWER CHALLENGE II, CONTINUED 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS

FOR LIFE 

>> continued from previous page 

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS 

INTRODUCTION ACTIVITY (10 MINUTES) 

Ask and discuss with youth: 

1. Review: Why do people work on teams? What makes 

a good team member? 

2. Do you know what a “role” is? Share with the youth 

this example about roles on a team: 

Roles of team members might be determined by the skills 

of the people involved or because of the number of 

people needed to complete a task. A common example is 

a sports team, like football. The quarterback can’t play all 

of the team roles. The quarterback can’t throw the ball 

down the field and catch it in the end zone! To complete 

this task, there have to be at least two people on the team. 

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to do their role. The leader of the team - the coach - 

doesn’t even touch the ball during a play but is an important part of the team. 

3. Do you think the people at NASA have “roles” in their 

work? What do you think those roles might be? 

ACTIVTY PART 1: ASSIGNED ROLES 

(15 MINUTES) 

Explain that the youth will do a team engineering activity 

that involves roles. 

The team roles for this project will be: 

ƭ e Team Leader - Gives team instructions, does not build 

ƭ e Builder 1 - Builds rocket model, listens to leader 

ƭ e Builder 2 - Builds rocket model, listens to leader 

ƭ e Supply Manager/Timekeeper - prepares supplies, 

updates team on time, assists building when asked by 

Team Leader 

Explain that the youth will be working on a team to 

complete a task. Ask them to describe a good team player. 

1. Assign youth into teams of four with each at their own 

table. Review the team roles. Randomly assign the four 

team roles to the team members. 

2. Hand out the supplies to each team: 12 pieces of spaghetti, 10 marshmallows and 10 gum drops. Tell the 

youth not to touch the supplies or eat them. 

3. Their goal is to work together to make an improved 

rocket from their Challenge 1 lesson that is free standing 

and as tall as possible. 

4. Have the youth in their teams briefly discuss and make 

a plan of what their rocket might look like and the 

supplies that they’ll use. The team leader leads this or 

asks from help from the team. 

5. Announce that the teams have 12 minutes to complete 

the task. Display the countdown clock or other timing 

device for the timekeeper to watch. Allow the teams to 

begin to build. As the time clicks down, do not remind 

the youth about the time remaining - let the timekeeper 

for each team keep track. 

6. Approximately half way through, do a temporary 

“pause.” Allow 30 seconds for team leaders only to 

survey the other teams’ building projects to gather ideas 

that might assist their team with their own construction. 

Allow teams to continue and finish up after this break. 

7. Once time runs out, ask the teams to stop and move 

away from their tables/models. 

8. Allow each team to showcase their final model design. 

Use the yardsticks to measure the height of each model. 

Use group applause to celebrate all of the teams’ eforts. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (10 MINUTES) 

Allow each team member to answer one of the following 

questions within their team. Allow 30 seconds for each 

response. 

1. What went well? 

2. What didn’t work? 

3. Did you work as a team? 

4. Did your teammates follow their roles? 

5. What did you like about this activity? 

6. What did you dislike about this activity? 

continued next page >> 
PAGE 3

LESSON PLAN: ACTIVITY 1.11 

ROCKET POWER CHALLENGE II, CONTINUED 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS

FOR LIFE 

>> continued from previous page 

DEBRIEF ACTIVITY: WHAT’S MY REFLECTION 

QUESTION? (5 MINUTES) 

MATERIALS LIST 

Puzzle pieces that can connect with others easily, can be drawn 

on, and pens, markers, or pencils. 

Puzzle pieces that you can draw on are a wonderful tool. 

Using the reflection question that best meets your needs 

(see examples below) invite youth to draw or write on 

their puzzle piece. The discuss the following questions 

with the entire group. 

1. Team Leaders - Was being the team leader hard or 

easy? Why? 

2. Team Builders / Timekeepers - Did you like your roles? 

Why or why not? Was it difcult to only do what you 

were told to do? 

3. Entire Team - What does it mean to work as a team. 

Have youth put the puzzle together as they share the 

reflections they placed on the puzzle pieces. Save and 

mount the puzzle if the group will come together again. 

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What is a goals you have for the group? 

What strengths do you bring to the group? 

What surprised you about this activity? 

What was most challenging? 

APPLY CHALLENGE: TEAMWORK SKITS OR 

COMIC STRIPS (10 MINUTES) 

Tell the youth that they will be assigned to a team to act 

out in a skit or develop a comic strip that they will present 

to the large group that involves situations that require 

teamwork during their daily lives. Their team should plan a 

short skit or comic strip with a role for each person 

assigned by the instructor. Their skit or comic strip should 

include at least one negative teamwork strategy. 

1. After they present, the large group will comment on 

the negative teamwork strategy. The team will then 

explain how they would fix the scenario with a positive 

teamwork strategy. 

2. Assign teams (either by choice or another method). 

3. Allow teams to prepare and practice. 

4. Have each team present, following step #2. 

Discuss: 

Tell the youth they have 1 minute to call out as many 

positive teamwork strategies as they can. Count them up 

and suggest they try one they have never tried before the 

next time they are in a team situation. 

FUN FACTS 

There are a number of past and current astronauts and 

NASA employees who were 4-H members. In addition to 

Peggy Whitson, who was a 4-H member in Iowa, others 

include Allan Shephard (New Hampshire 4-H), the first 

American in space, and Charles Bolden (South Carolina 

4-H), former astronaut and Administrator of NASA. 

DID YOU KNOW 

The International Space Station is a joint efort between 

Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States, 

and the 22 Member States of the European Space Agency. 

As of November 2016, 226 individuals from 18 countries 

have visited the International Space Station. 

INSTRUCTOR’S NOTES 
ACTIVITY 1.11: LEARNER ASSESSMENT 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1

Q2 

Q3 

I can describe what it means to have a team role. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can describe why having team roles is important. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can work with others to solve a problem. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

ACTIVITY 1.11: LEARNER ASSESSMENT 

These questions are about things you learned during this

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1

Q2 

Q3 

I can describe what it means to have a team role. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can describe why having team roles is important. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can work with others to solve a problem. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

ACTIVITY 1.11: LEARNER ASSESSMENT 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1

Q2 

Q3 

I can describe what it means to have a team role. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can describe why having team roles is important. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can work with others to solve a problem. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

ACTIVITY 1.11: LEARNER ASSESSMENT 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

 

 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS 

FOR LIFE FOR LIFEFOR LIFE FOR LIFE 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS 

EXPEDITIONARY

SKILLS 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

I can describe what it means to have a team role. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can describe why having team roles is important. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I can work with others to solve a problem. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me