BETHEL — Peter Hedden has been a teacher for 11 years at Telstar Middle School. He has been awarded grants from Maine Environmental Education Association to get materials to build and experiment with hands-on learning. Mr. Hedden has a lot of plans this year: building ramp cars, mousetrap cars, rockets, parachutes, and much more.

One of the projects Mr. Hedden does with his students is building rockets. The students first have to think of what their rocket is going to look like and how it’s going to work. Then the students have to gather their materials.

After that, they are off to build their rockets! Finally, when the students are done building they are ready to launch them. Cadence Campbell had the highest rocket, it went 113.4 meters. Halea Monelt had the second-highest of 106.3 meters. Daniel Billings had the third-highest of 96.2 meters.

Mr. Hedden also has students do mousetrap cars! Mousetrap cars are small cars that are only powered by a mousetrap. Mr. Hedden hands out mousetraps to each student. The students then go to a bucket for building materials.

The bucket includes Popsicle sticks, wheels, CDs, string, cardboard, foam, and straws. The one rule is you have to have it go 5 meters. The students also get to race each other. Whoever builds the fastest car wins.

The grant is a good thing because it gives the students a chance to do hands-on activities and show the skills of each student. That is why the grant is a good thing for Telstar Middle School.