At a glance
Catapult is a 60 or 75 minute workshop for grades 3 to 10 where students build a working catapult. They use simple machines (lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley, winch, wheel) and describe how potential energy turns into kinetic energy.
Become a modern-day knight!
In this workshop, students discover the families of simple machines (lever, winch, gear, inclined plane…) and the ideas of potential and kinetic energy.
They put their knowledge into practice with two challenges: hitting the bull’s-eye and knocking down castles with a ballista and a trigger catapult.
Your turn to play!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Assemble a working catapult.
- Use simple machines correctly (lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley, winch, wheel).
- Describe the energy transformations acting on a body (potential to kinetic energy).
- Take the project’s constraints into account (time, teamwork, building challenges).
- Read building instructions and recognize the parts needed.
Learning goals (secondary)
- Design and build a working catapult.
- Understand the relationship between potential energy, mass, gravitational acceleration and displacement.
- Identify the simple machines in a catapult’s structure.
