Catapults -Conducting Fair Tests to Guide the Engineering Design Process

The main objective of the lesson is to provide 4th grade students with an opportunity to experience the engineering design process. Through this lesson they will learn how to select and carry out fair tests to identify how changing a chosen variable will affect the distance traveled (3-5-ETS1-3) Next Generation Science Standards- Engineering Standard. The design challenge is to build a catapult to launch an object as far as possible. The lab mimics Lockheed Martin’s procedure of employing systematic tests to prepare its SBIRS satellites for launch. The communicative and collaborative aspects of the engineering design process will also be highlighted. Additionally, students will apply knowledge of scientific concepts relating to energy and motion in order to design, build, and test catapults in an iterative manner. Students will analyze results and then use the data collected to make a claim about the effects of modifying a selected attribute.