I usually use this term project / activity as a sort of introductory activity intended for the students to get their hands "dirty" early on in the course. I assign it the first week of school, and it is due on Halloween. It makes for quite a spectacle and event - all of the teachers and students in their costumes shooting off pumpkins with homemade catapults! Halloween is a natural time for this project - especially if you buy the pumpkins the day before Halloween - VERY cheap.

If you can't do this project for Halloween, it can be modified to suite whatever standard projectile you would like to use - watermelons, cantaloupe, potatoes, basketballs - whatever you feel is appropriate.

The guidelines that I usually give to the students are as follows:

Each group of 2-4 people will design and build a catapult for the purpose of throwing an 8 10 pound pumpkin as far as possible.

Requirements:

• Each catapult must be of original design
• Each catapult may not have a total cost of more than $100 in material costs (donated materials must have a fair value attached and included in the $100)
• Each group must submit a design sketch, material list, and a materials budget at least two weeks prior to the Catapult Day, which will be on October 30, 1997.
• Each group will submit a lab report complete with scale drawings at the completion of this project

Failure to meet these requirements will result in failure of this competency.

My grading of this project is pretty liberal since it is the first thing that they have done, and I believe that very little direction should be given in how to design and construct the catapult - discovery is the best teacher. Usually if they build it and do the write up, they get credit.

I usually dangle a rather large carrot in front of them to insure that each catapult is built as well as the group can manage. I offer the winning group an A grade for the term. Needless to say - A LOT of effort goes into the catapults, and it is a great event for the school and yearbook!

As far as background information goes, I give my students a copy of the article "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Case of Spam!" from Outside Magazine to get them excited and motivated. I also give them some class time to research catapults on the internet to let them find some ideas on ways to design the apparatus.

I require some "make-sure-you-are-doing-someting" assignments along the way. A scale drawing of the design and a materials and cost list is usually enough. They include these in the final lab report.

That is about all I can think of that I do for this project. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments, concerns, queries - whatever!

Have fun, and wear your hard hat!

Clint Stephens