The Brown Bag STEM Challenge II- Slingshot Gallery

Have you ever played the shooting gallery game at the carnival?  Here’s a STEM twist on that carnival game for students…a slingshot gallery.

For this Challenge, students are tasked with building a working slingshot that will knock down the designated targets from a specified distance. Students can work in pairs, but I like each student to design and build their own slingshot.  It shows more ownership and also results in each student having their own data to analyze later.

In addition to establishing a required distance to “fling” from, I like to also require other parameters based on age group or based on available supplies to increase the difficulty.  Adjusting these parameters allows me to differentiate the challenge, even within the same classroom.

The Brown Bag STEM Challenge design challenges focus on some key STEM concepts like critical thinking and problem solving, all while being low-cost to implement  This sequel series contains all of the same elements (design briefs, NGSS alignment, Interactive STEM Notebook pages, etc.) as the original, but with new challenges!

So, what did we learn?
Next Generation Science Standards: Planning and Carrying out Investigations, Designing Solutions; CCC- Patterns, Systems and System Models

CCSS Math: Functions, Expressions and Equations

Get The Brown Bag STEM Challenge II Bundle Pack with ALL 10 Engineering Design Challenges including Slingshot Gallery!