South Innovation Center
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Welcome to the Catapult Challenge!
Student Instructions:
Researching and Examining Catapults
- Using the catapult at your station, test out the accuracy (how well you can get the ball into a set location/target) as well as the power (how far you can launch the ball) of the catapult.
- Complete a few of the challenges on the challenge cards. As you are completing the challenges, think about what is making that catapult work, what is making it more accurate, what is making it more powerful. You’ll use this knowledge in the next step!
Creating Your Catapult
- Now that you’ve used a pre-made catapult and examined how it works, it’s time to create your own! Using the materials at your station, design a catapult. Your catapult needs to be both accurate and powerful. It does not have to look just like the example catapult you've been experimenting with…be creative with your design!
- Speaking of design…make sure you’re using all of the steps to the Design Process as you create your catapult
Testing Your Catapult
Once you have built your catapults, it is time to launch! Test your catapults for accuracy and distance.
- Test 1 - Accuracy Cotton balls and a bowl make-up this test. The bowl will be in a set location (works well on the floor). Teams will have 2 test runs to determine launching distance. Then, from a set distance, students will launch their cotton balls. Record how many make it into the bowl out of 5 attempts.
- Test 2 - Distance Set-up a launch line using masking tape. Students launch 3 times per catapult and record each distance using a measuring tape. If it is too much hassle to record the distance, have students launch each of his/her catapults and mark which one went farthest for each trial.
- Evaluate your design and make some changes if necessary. Test your catapults again for accuracy and distance. You're using the Design Process!
Math Extension
- Make a graph to record the distance results
- Find the average of the 3 distance trials.
- Determine how the angle of the launch changes the results of your accuracy and distance tests
- What other ways could you use the data from your catapult launches?
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Welcome to the Pendulum Challenge!
Student Instructions:
Researching and Examining Pendulums
- Using the pendulum at your station, test out the accuracy (how well you can get the ball into a set location/target) as well as the power (how far you can launch the ball)
- Complete a few of the challenges on the challenge cards. As you are completing the challenges, think about what is making that pendulum work, what is making it more accurate, what is making it more powerful. You’ll use this knowledge in the next step!
Creating Your Pendulum
- Now that you’ve used a pre-made pendulum and examined how it works, it’s time to create your own! Using the materials at your station, design a pendulum. Your pendulum needs to be both accurate and powerful. It does not have to look just like the example pendulum you've been experimenting with…be creative with your design!
- Speaking of design…make sure you’re using all of the steps to the Design Process as you create your pendulum
Testing Your Pendulum
Once you have built your pendulums, it is time to launch! Test your pendulums for accuracy and distance.
- Test 1 - Accuracy Ping Pong balls and a bowl make-up this test. The bowl will be in a set location (works well on the floor). Teams will have 2 test runs to determine launching distance. Then, from a set distance, students will launch their cotton balls. Record how many make it into the bowl out of 5 attempts.
- Test 2 - Distance Set-up a launch line using masking tape. Students launch 3 times per pendulum and record each distance using a measuring tape. If it is too much hassle to record the distance, have students launch each of his/her pendulums and mark which one went farthest for each trial.
- Evaluate your design and make some changes if necessary. Test your pendulums again for accuracy and distance. You're using the Design Process!
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Use the link below to access Instant Challenges and other Resources from Destination Imagination.
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