Catapult design challenge inspires Burchfield Elementary students

Shannon Beck’s second grade class at Burchfield Primary School was a beehive of activity as her students prepared to launch Remake Learning Days with an actual launch.

The kids were among 6,000 first and second grade students across Pennsylvania who designed and built catapults in a catapult design challenge. Participants from the Shaler Area School District included students from Burchfield School, Scott Primary School, Reserve Primary School and Marzolf Primary School. Beck emphasized that it was not a competition.

Participants were partnered virtually with students from schools in other parts of the state. All the kids were given a quick review of what a catapult is and received a planning sheet and the same materials, including popsicle sticks, plastic straws, adhesive tape, rubber bands and plastic spoons among other items. The classrooms had worked together online to plan, draft, create, build and test their own catapults by launching ping pong balls. Beck’s students worked in pairs in the classroom. On May 2, the student-built catapults were part of the inaugural launch.

“Try it. See what happens,” Beck, 51, Mars, tells two of her students — Aubrey McNally and Addie Bodle, both 8-year-olds from Shaler.

Their first attempt was unsuccessful as the ball did not travel very far. Beck tried to help them figure out what went wrong. It’s determined the lack of tension on the catapult when it’s pulled back is the problem. They figure out that another rubber band pulled tighter might make a difference. Their second attempt is a little better.

“That definitely made a difference. Did it make enough of a difference?” Beck asked her students. “You’ve got the right idea. You’re getting closer. Which way are you trying to get the payload to fly? Towards me, right? Forward. So, you can twist the rubber band (to create more tension). Try that.”

More trial and error ensued and it was part of the learning process, according to Cari Kelm, Shaler’s Project Engin Coordinator, K-3 Primary Stem.

“Failing is a part of an engineering process,” Kelm said. “I think it teaches kids a lot about collaborating with a partner. It teaches them creative thinking, critical thinking and problem solving. We’re teaching and kind of fostering that growth mindset where they don’t have to be perfect at everything. It’s trying to change that fixed mindset — where I can’t do that yet but I can make changes, I can keep trying, I can persevere.”

Kelm said activities such as the catapult launch begin building a 21st century mindset.

“We don’t know what kids are going to be doing by the time they graduate,” she said. “These kids are in second grade so they have 10 years of school left. Most of the jobs that they will have probably don’t exist, or at least not in the fashion that they will by the time they’re done with college 14 years from now.

“So, trying to foster those critical thinking skills, problem solving, resiliency, perseverance with these kinds of projects — it’s not so much what they’re doing — it’s just the idea that they have to think and they have to try. It’s probably not going to work the first time and not the second so it’s trying to build that mindset of always being a learner.”

The STEAM-focused design challenge project is part of the launch of Remake Learning Days. Yu-Ling Cheng, co-producer of Remake Learning Days, is enthusiastic about the project because it gives families something they can do together.

“The kids are learning through something fun. They’re building a catapult and they’ll remember this and they’ll go home and be excited about it and tell their families about it. And then the hope is that families will then explore all of the amazing learning resources that exist here in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pa.,” Cheng said.

When they were done, each pair of students shared their final project with the rest of the classroom. “Final” did not necessarily mean they were done, just out of time for that first day. The students would continue to develop and test their designs in the days that followed.

The kids at Burchfield Elementary School never seemed to lose interest in what they were attempting to accomplish with their catapults — something not lost on those in charge.

“They keep trying,” Kelm said. “They keep trying to make it better and I’m super proud of them.”