Building Catapults With Makerspace Kit

Here is a video of the catapult project I did with Two other teachers at my school who teach Gr 11 Physics classes. It was a collaborative project which had a focus on communication for a specific audience and collaboration (interpersonal teamwork) We used the NPDL framework to guide our success criteria and hapara workspace to house our work and reflections. Students had to work together to build an adjustable catapult using limited materials and equipment. Grade 11s were the mentors and Gr8s were the mentees. All work had to be during school time. Most students used design thinking to then adjust catapult the day of testing to hit a specific distance.

Just a few of the leveraging digital pieces we included were: using Tinkercad to make a 3D computerized image (which one group printed their model using 3D printer in LC). We also used flipgrid videos to advertise the grade 11 skill sets to the grade 8s so they could choose partners who complimented their skill set.

I was thrilled with the project. My students looked forward to seeing their partners and working on their catapults each day. I even saw some groups getting together on lunch hours to work together even though they had different lunches (thanks to those flexible teachers who let them miss class)