December was a period of construction and building in the Eighth grade science classroom. To celebrate the end of their study of force and motion students build catapults, trebuchets, and a variety of other machines. They worked in small groups to construct a projectile launcher capable of reliably launching a tennis ball and hitting a target 5 meters away. The machines were all built from household items. Each machine’s propulsion was supplied by gravity and/or mechanical means, meaning no human power, chemicals, explosives, compressed air, or electricity/magnetism were used. Finally, each device had to be loaded and hold the ball so that students could take their hands off the device and use a “trigger” to launch the ball. 

The students developed, tested, revised and improved their designs. The task was challenging but the students rose to the occasion. They successfully navigated working in small groups as they participated in an iterative design process. This experience allowed them to apply what they learned in their science and math classrooms to solve a practical problem. 

Throughout the project the eighth graders reflected on their experience. Their words capture the essence of the project. Sophia Simpkins shared how her group came together and found success, “Building the catapult-turned-trebuchet was a great experience, despite some of the [challenges] that my group faced. We learned how to productively work together, and how to improvise when things didn’t go as planned. Though at first, we had little faith in it, our launcher exceeded expectations…” Nora Read highlighted the iterative nature of science in her final reflection. “During this experience, we definitely learned that it’s okay if something doesn’t work at first. We learned that changing things and making adjustments is all just part of the process. There were times when we felt stuck, we helped each other find a solution in the end.” And Graham Haberl shared the emotional ups and downs encountered throughout his experience. “Our testing did not go as planned, we could not land the tennis ball in the hoop… During our testing we shot the ball over the hoop twice and the other two times it completely failed. I was very disappointed. The feeling when we finally [hit the target] was awesome.”

See the students in action below! Watch the video: