https://nifa.usda.gov/ 

program/4-h-positiveyouth-development 

National Institute 

of Food 

and Agriculture 

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture 

lesson details introduction 

lesson plan: TEAMWORK activity 2.11 

Rocket PoweR challenge iii 

A FederAl PArtnershiP For steM educAtion 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

National Aeronautics 

and Space 

Administration 

 

age/grade level 

Middle School 

learner outcoMes 

Youth will identify ways to effectively 

communicate with members of a 

team, recognize there are many 

different solutions to solving 

problems, and define teamwork and 

team roles. 

success indicators 

Youth will act cooperatively, keep 

calm in interpersonal conflicts, and 

actively work to ensure a positive 

team attitude. 

life skills 

Critical thinking and innovation, 

collaboration, social skills 

national standards 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 

Prepare for and participate effectively 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 

60 minutes 

Materials list 

•1 lb. box of dry spaghetti

•10 oz. small marshmallows

•20 oz. gum drops

•Yard stick or tape measure

•Countdown clock or other timing

device

•One set of paper role labels for each

team (Team Leader, Builder 1, Builder

2, Timekeeper/Supply Manager)

More supplies may be needed

depending upon the size of the group

Handouts

Learner Assessment Questions

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

The Importance of Recognizing Roles

in a Team

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/

importance-recognizing-rolesteam-31499.html

The Biggest Mistake You (Probably)

Make with Teams

https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-biggest-mistake-you-probab

teams are groups of individuals 

working together toward common 

goals. A team role is the way we 

behave, contribute and interact with 

others. 

The difference between team failure and success 

depends on the behavior of team members. 

Recognizing various team roles allows you to 

match the skills needed to reach the goal with 

the appropriate team member who has those 

skills. 

Teams tend to work better together if the 

members recognize their individual roles. A 

team’s ability to work together improves when 

the roles of individual team members are clearly 

defined and well understood. 

Consider a team of doctors and nurses working 

in a hospital emergency room. Before the next 

ambulance arrives they have no idea what task

is ahead. Will the patient require surgery, heart 

resuscitation, medications? The condition of the 

next patient is unknown; the tasks that will be 

required of the team, ambigu­ ous. But at no 

time while the team waits, do they negotiate 

roles: “Who would like to admin­ ister the 

anesthesia? Who will set out the instruments? 

Who will make key decisions?” Each role is clear. 

As a result, when the patient arrives, the team is 

able to move quickly into action. 

It’s one thing to join a team, but quite another to 

perform as a team member. To put it simply, 

teams don’t work without teamwork, and for 

teamwork to take place, every team member 

must play their role. 

continued next page >> 
page 2

lesson plan: activity 2.11 

Rocket PoweR challenge iii, 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 is the

purpose of a team? What makes a good/bad team

member?

2. Give examples of roles people have in the working

world and family life. What do roles have to do with

teamwork?

3. What do teamwork and roles have to do with NASA?

4. Review the Engineering Design Process introduced in

Challenge I.

activty: teaM roles (15 Minutes) 

Explain to youth they will participate in an engineering 

activity that will expand on the roles used in Challenge 

Lesson II. The building challenge will be to build a rocket 

and a rocket launch pad. In addition, they will experience

multiple roles instead of only one.

The roles will be:

•Team Leader - Gives team instructions, does not build

•Builder 1 - Builds rocket model, listens to leader

•Builder 2 - Builds rocket model, listens to leader

•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.

1. Assign youth into teams of 4 with each team at their

own table or other level surface.

2. Hand out supplies. Give each team 12 pieces of

spaghetti, 10 marshmallows and 10 gumdrops. Tell the

youth not to touch or eat the supplies.

3. Review the team roles. Explain that each team member

will get to spend about 3 minutes in each of the roles

and then rotate clockwise to the next role labeled on

the table.

4. Tell the youth they will have to work together and build

a model of a rocket and a launch pad.

5. The goal is to make an improved rocket from their

Challenge II Lesson that is freestanding and as tall as

possible. The rocket launch pad should support the

rocket and must touch the rocket.

6. Have the youth briefly discuss and make a plan for

what their rocket and launch pad may look like and

how to use the supplies. The Team Leader leads this

and asks for help from the team.

7. Every 3 minutes have the students move clockwise to

change roles. Have role name badges at the spots on

the tables for easy role switching.

8. Allow the teams to begin to build. Remind them of the

12 minute timeline. Display a countdown clock for the

Timekeepers to watch. As time ticks down, do not

remind the youth of the amount of time remaining; let

the Timekeeper for each group keep track.

9. Approximately half way through, call-for 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.

10. Once time runs out, have teams stop and back away

from their tables/models.

11. Allow each Team Leader to showcase their final model

design. Use the yardstick to measure final rocket model

height. Use class applause to celebrate all of the teams’

efforts!

continued next page >> 
page 3

lesson plan: activity 2.11 

Rocket PoweR challenge iii, continued 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

>> continued from previous page

discussion Questions (10 Minutes) 

1. How could your team have been more effective in the

building process? How do roles affect this?

2. What does it mean to be an engineer? What skills are

required by engineers to complete tasks?

3. How did the Engineering Cycle help your team? If you

did not use it, how could it have helped?

4. Is strong communication important to a team? Why or

why not? What are some ways to communicate

effectively with others to solve a problem?

5. How did the results of your rocket differ from the first

trial? How did the assigning of roles affect this?

Discuss the importance of roles in the activity and how it 

relates to the importance of roles in the working world and 

family life. 

debrief activity: sunburst (10 Minutes) 

Materials list 

•1 triangular piece of paper (make three triangles out of an 81⁄2”x11”

piece of yellow paper, lengthwise) for each youth

•1 marker per youth

•roll of masking tape

•1 center section (a half circle made out of a full-sized poster board)

DIrections:

1. Give each youth a marker and a triangular piece of

paper.

2. Have each youth write a reflection on the paper (i.e.

what you have learned from this experience/program,

what the experience/program has meant to you, what

you enjoyed most from this experience/program).

Participants may color the triangles too.

3. Write the name of the program on the half circle and

tape it on the wall about waist high so youth can reach

to attach the higher triangles. Make sure there is

enough space overall so youth can tape their triangles

along the rounded part of the center section.

4. When everyone is done, have each youth tape up their

triangle (stagger each row between the existing

triangles) along the center section so the triangles look

like rays of the sun.

Discussion: 

Look over what youth wrote on the triangles and share 

some aloud. Conclude with some reflections on the 

group’s experience. Leave the “sunburst” up for everyone 

to see and read the various responses. 

applied cHallenge: relay race 

(15 Minutes) 

Materials list 

• 1 ball

• timing device

• 1 cone

Directions: 

1. Designate a starting point. Place a cone 50 yards from

the starting line. Ask the group to stand in a single file

line at the starting point. Give the first one in line the

ball.

2. On your signal, the youth will run one at a time to the

cone and back.

3. Once they have all returned to the starting point they

will form a standing circle. The group goal is to pass

the ball as quickly as possible around the circle. Every

person has to touch the ball, but only one person can

touch the ball at a time.

4. After everyone in the group has touched the ball they

should sit down to show they are done.

5. Let them do this activity one time and then ask them

to assign each other roles in the race according to their

strengths. Do the activity one more time and see if

they are faster.

Discussion: 

• What helped your group work well together? (Sharing

ideas, listening, encouraging each other, etc.)

• What made working together more difficult? (Lots of

different perspectives, lack of communication, etc.)

• How does this activity relate to your daily lives? How

can you use these ideas to help you?

continued next page >> 
page4

lesson plan: activity 2.11 

Rocket PoweR challenge iii, continued 

expeditionary

skills

for life 

>> continued from previous page

Instructor says: “Sometimes working with a lot of different people can be a challenge because we each have 

different points of view and different ways of communicating. When we listen to each other and share ideas, we 

can use all of the unique ideas and individual talents to 

solve problems and work through difficult situations.” 

fun facts 

The International Space Station orbits the earth every 90 

minutes at the speed of 17,150 miles per hour (5 miles per 

second). That means that the crew experiences sunrise 

and sunset 16 times a day. 

did you know 

Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, a 4-H alumnus from Hawaii, 

helped to create a 4-H TV/video curriculum called “Blue 

Sky Below My Feet--Adventures in Space Technology” in 

1985. The series had three 30-minute video programs 

about forces and gravity, space clothes and space food. 

Onizuka was one of the astronauts who died in the tragic 

destruction of the Challenger space shuttle. 

instructor’s notes 
activity 2.11: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

I understand the importance of listening to the ideas of all 

team members before taking action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of planning before taking 

action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of analyzing the results of my 

work. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

activity 2.11: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

I understand the importance of listening to the ideas of all 

team members before taking action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of planning before taking 

action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of analyzing the results of my 

work. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

activity 2.11: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

Q1 

Q2 

Q3 

I understand the importance of listening to the ideas of all 

team members before taking action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of planning before taking 

action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of analyzing the results of my 

work. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

activity 2.11: learner assessMent 

These questions are about things you learned during this 

activity. Please check the circle that best describes you. 

expeditionary

skills


for life

expeditionary

skills


for life 

expeditionary

skills


for life

expeditionary

skills


for life 

Q1
 

Q2
 

Q3
 

I understand the importance of listening to the ideas of all 

team members before taking action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of planning before taking 

action. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me 

I understand the importance of analyzing the results of my 

work. 

Not at all like me 

A little like me 

Somewhat like me 

A lot like me