Task 14

Materials and tools for a working group:

catapult from previous task

The teacher leads the pupils to observe the catapult on the picture. The figure shows a certain catapult setting and also where the ball will land after launching the catapult. The task of pupils is to discuss how to change the catapult setting so that the ball falls closer (target 1) or beyond (target 2). In principle, two things can be changed oncatapult. The first is how much we pull the catapult down (lever) and the other is how much we pull the rope that holds the ball arm. The teacher discusses with the pupils what they themselves identified. The predictions will arise from the discussion, as pupils only assume that, after some proposed intervention, the ball falls into the target. Their next task is to find out if how they think about setting up a catapult is in line with how the catapult actually reports.