'Layers of risk' ground rocketry projects at Thames Valley schools

The union representing Thames Valley District school board high school teachers is hoping officials will reverse a decision to end teaching rocketry to students in its London and area classrooms.

Teachers have received an email instructing them to end so-called rocketry projects because they pose “significant risks,” said John Bernans, a local leader with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.

There have been “no safety issues” with the projects in “a safe, supervised environment,” Bernans said. “It connects physics to its real-world applications in a safe and fun way.”

The rocketry science project has students design and build their own rocket over the course of a couple weeks and requires them to design tools “for measuring the altitude that the rockets reach,” Bernans sai