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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Simple Machines, Odd Machines

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students recognize and identify common objects that can be used as a lever. In this simple machines lesson, students experiment with materials to design and construct a machine that uses a lever. Students also design and build a catapult.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Catapult Physics

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Student explore the relationship between Hooke's Law and catapults. After exploring the four types of catapults, students use Hooke's law to determine the spring constant in a torsion powered catapult. They answer questions based upon...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Medieval Catapults

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students design and build a working catapult or trebuchet to explore the concepts of force, motion, and distance.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Marshmallow Mania

For Students 7th - 9th
In this science project worksheet, students create a catapult from a standard mousetrap that will deliver a small marshmallow to a target area. They score each other based on the landing position for each.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

TREBUCHET

For Students 6th - 8th
In this social studies worksheet, students find the words that are related to the concept of war and the answers are found at the bottom of the page.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Catapult

For Students 6th - 8th
In this social studies worksheet, learners find the words related to the catapult and the answers are found by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Catapults

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students are introduced to the concept of a catapult and how it is used with the help of a media presentation. They use catapults in a large, open area and record the distances objects travel. Students use the scientific method while...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Catapult Unit

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students understand the need for carefully defining the problem before searching for a solution. They understand the need for carefully defining the problem before searching for a solution. Students compare a variety of catapults and the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Levers: Catapults

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students construct a catapult that shoots a cotton ball at least two meters using Legos, rubber bands, and plastic spoons. They discuss how the catapult works, and identify any problems they had with their experiment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Catapult

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students identify the advantages and disadvantages of a catapult as a weapon. For this physics lesson, students construct their own catapult. They investigate how changing one variable affects results.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Effect of Trebuchet Arm Length or Counterweight Mass on Project

For Students 9th - 10th
A trebuchet is a catapult that uses a counterweight to supply the energy for throwing. They were used in the Middle Ages for attacking castle walls. In this project, you build your own model trebuchet and investigate how design changes...
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Interactive
South Carolina Educational Television

Etv: The Hobby Shop: Balloon Blast

For Students 9th - 10th
Design a catapult, blast a balloon into the air, and try to hit the target the first time. If you miss, adjust the velocity and angle to reach the desired trajectory.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Bomb's Away! A Ping Pong Catapult

For Students 3rd - 8th
With this project you'll send ping pong balls flying through the air with a rubber-band powered catapult. This catapult makes it easy to reproduce the launch angle, and to measure the amount of force applied to the projectile. Armed with...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Right on Target: Catapult Game

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students experience the engineering design process as they design and build accurate and precise catapults using common materials. They use their catapults to participate in a game in which they launch Ping-Pong balls to attempt to hit...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Flying T Shirts

For Teachers 9th - 10th
During this engineering design/build project, students investigate many different solutions to a problem. Their design challenge is to find a way to get school t-shirts up into the stands during home sporting events. They follow the...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: The Magician's Catapult

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this activity, students reinforce their understanding of compound machines by building a catapult. This compound machine consists of a lever and a wheel-and-axel. Catapults have been designed by engineers for a variety of purposes -...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Trebuchet Launch

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students work as engineers to design and test trebuchets (in this case LEGO MINDSTORMS robots) that can launch objects. During the testing stage, they change one variable at a time to study its effect on the outcome of their designs....
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Launch Into Learning: Catapults!

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Learners learn about catapults, including the science and math concepts behind them, as they prepare for the associated activity in which they design, build and test their own catapults. They learn about force, accuracy, precision and...
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Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Physics of the Flying T Shirt

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students are introduced to the physics concepts of air resistance and launch angle as they apply to catapults. This includes the basic concepts of position, velocity and acceleration and their relationships to one another. They use...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Discovery Education: Motion, Forces, Energy and Electricity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Help your learners understand motion and force through the construction of catapults.
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Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Numb3 Rs: Clearing All Obstacles

For Students 9th - 10th
Based off of the hit television show NUMB3RS, this lesson has students modeling a mock food fight using projectile motion. This lesson is very technology-intensive, and a CBR2 is used to measure the velocity of an object so that it's...
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: The Physics and Engineering of a Trebuchet

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this simple machines lab learners investigate how the trebuchet works using their prior knowledge of simple machines. Students then build a trebuchet and analyze the physics and engineering that goes into building and launching it.
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Activity
Center of Science and Industry

Cosi Columbus: Catapult

For Students 3rd - 8th
Science experiment that demonstrates how energy is transferred. Includes full list of materials, procedures, and scientific explanation of how the tension in the catapult causes an object to travel far.
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Catapults!

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students observe the relationship between the angle of a catapult (a force measurement) and the flight of a cotton ball. They learn how Newton's second law of motion works by seeing directly that F = ma. When they pull the metal "arm"...