-Catapult Challenge-

•Area 9
•Mrs. Taylor
•Term 1, 2022
•Lime Jang
 The Contents
• The Challenge / The Problem
• Apparatus / Equipment Cost (Price List)
• My Research – Websites
• My Catapult Plan – The Diagram
• Catapult In Action – The Video & Photo
• The Science Behind It – Work
• Class Results Table
• Class Results Graph
• Interpretation Of Results (the end results).
• Conclusion
• My Reflection & Marking Rubric
• Mrs Taylor’s Reflection and Feedback
 The Challenge / The Problem
• The Challenge is to build an effective, free-standing
catapult, which will shoot a marshmallow as far as
possible, with the most efficient, or the most fair cost.
The Apparatus & The Equipment
I need:
- 3 Pop Sticks: $3.00.
- 2 Elastic Bands: $2.00.
- 1 Spoon: $3.
- The total price of the equipment I need is $8.00.
 My Research

• I am planning to use a simple designs, but use a little more

pop-sticks to try and make the distance go a little bit further.
• The three websites I have looked at and planned at are:
https://www.teachengineering.org
https://scienceoxford.com
https://science.discoveryplace.org
 My Plan
- This includes tools and the structure.
- Fulcrum, lever, point of power, Direction of main force,
Marshmallow position to start.
- Those are the points that I need to focus on throughout
the Task & Challenge.
The bottom pop-stick
secures the whole The spoon will need to be pushed
catapult by keeping the down on the floor, as the three pop
spoon in place when sticks will help the spoon top and the
using it. marshmallow flip side-words.

The rubber bands will

support the three pop
sticks from falling apart.
The one in the middle will
stay affixed towards the
spoon and bottom pop
stick.
 The Catapult in Action – The Video
- Video is unfinished.
The Science Behind it
Class Results Table
Class Results Graph
 Interpretation Of Results
As you can see from both the table and the graph, 28 students completed the catapult challenge (one pair and the rest of the
class). One student did not complete the task, hence no data is available and one student was unable to finish all their data due
to absence.

The results generally show that each catapult recorded three distances, and the average of these were taken for comparison.
The furthest distance was 7.50 metres, achieved by Miki, and the shortest was 0.10 metres, achieved by Anushka.

When considering the averages, the highest average was Miki at 1.1 metres, and lowest Anushka at 0.13 metres.

When constructing the catapults, clearly some students used equipment effectively and used minimum sources. These students
show a low-costing and those with higher cost used much more equipment. Gabby and Sienna spent the most and proved to be
the most expensive catapult ($16.00), whereas Shi Ern spent the least and this proved to be the least expensive catapult. ($4.60).

With this in mind, we were able to work out those was the most cost efficient. Looking at the graph you can see Miki’s was the
most cost efficient closely followed by Lucas and Eason. The least efficient catapult was Anushka, (0.13 efficiency), which
suggests that she may have spent on the material when building her device. ($12.00)

When we look at the class as a whole, 30% or roughly a third of the class produced 75% efficient catapult, compared just over
52% of the class producing a cost efficiency over a half. Only the most expensive and the least expensive devices we found to be
the least efficient, falling in the bottom efficiency bands and this was only 15%of the class.
 Conclusion
In conclusion, the majority of the class produced a catapult which worked
extremely efficiently. There was no student that could not fire a marshmallow
from a free standing device, meaning the whole class were successful in this
challenge. 

There were outstanding performances from Leo, Miki, Lucas, Eason, Zachary
and Qiaoling. 52% of the class produced a catapult costing between roughly
$5 to $9 and proving at least 50% cost efficient. 

The outstanding catapult was made by Miki and averaging a distance of 6.70
meters, meaning it had a total efficiency of 1.1.
 Pie Chart
A Pie Chart Showing Whole Class Efficiency Spread

Efficiency
20% or less Efficiency 21%-49%
15% 3%

Efficiency
Efficiency 50%
75% 52%
30% of the
Class
Efficiency 50% Efficiency 75%
Efficiency 20% or less Efficiency 21%-49%
 My Reflection & Marking Rubric
Positive Developmental Interesting
I caught up with some typing I have to work on saving my
bits for the whole class, such work repeatedly, so that I
as Conclusion and don’t lose it.
Interpretation of Results.
I also need to make sure
that I have all the pieces of
work and the correct ones.`
Mrs Taylor’s Reflection and Feedback
Positive Developmental Interesting