Darlington County 4H Club
Preparing for blast-off, this group of youth experiment with motion and flight at the Darlington Library’s 4-H Rocket Science program.
Young rocket scientists crafted and launched paper rockets at recent Homeschool Hub and Afterschool programs at the Darlington Library. Experimenting with design features and angles, the scientists tested and demonstrated Newton’s Laws of Motion while competing for bragging rights for the farthest launch and closest to the target.
Joel Jeffords, Jonah Cunningham, and Dante Jeffords (left to right) pump air pressure into a PVC pipe and prepare their paper rockets for blast-off at a recent 4-H Rocket Science program at the Darlington Library.
The Darlington Library invited 4-H to present “Rocket Science” to their young patrons as a way to introduce the new 4-H Clemson Extension Agent, Leigh Walker, to the community while allowing their young patrons to be involved in an exciting STEM-related project. Children’s Librarian, Liz Davis, said of the program, “4-H is a great partnership for the library. We all had great fun seeing the children get excited about learning.”
The “Rocket Science” activity is one of many interactive STEM-related 4-H programs offered to all youth, ages 5 – 19, across South Carolina. Leigh Walker, 4-H Clemson Extension County Agent states that all 4-H programs use the “learn by doing” approach: Whether a child is learning about rockets or robotics, raising an animal, or planting a garden, all kinds of life skill lessons become real and a lot of learning takes place when children can actually put their hands on and manipulate what it is we are trying to teach.
Joel Jeffords used Clemson Extension 4-H program business cards to design fins for his paper rocket.
4-H science programming in Darlington County is offered to classroom teachers and community organizations for in-school and afterschool programming.
For more information on children and youth programs at the Darlington Library,, contact Liz Davis at: (843) 398-4940,
izd.dar@darlington-lib.org.
For more information on 4-H, contact the Clemson Extension Office, 843-393-0484, lawlkr@clemson.edu.