HANDS-ON LEARNING

For their end of the year project, students in Mr Castillow’s Honors Algebra 2 with Statistics class had to research, design, build, and test a trebuchet. A trebuchet is one of the most mathematically precise medieval siegeweaponseverdesigned.

This project lasted for three weeks Students were asked to research trebuchets and determine how they work, and the specific rations needed to make a this successful tool They then had to design a two dimensional drawing, convert their 2-D drawing to a 3-D model, and use these models astheirblueprintsforbuilding

Thanks to the MAAAC, each group had a budget of $75 to purchase all of their supplies Teams created a supply list before taking a field trip to Lowes of Foley, where each team had to search for their planned supplies, but make adjustments based on available materials. A huge thank you to Lowes of Foley for being so accommodating and helping support our students!

After a week of building, each team had at least one successful launch The farthest and tallest launce belonged to the team of Libby Tierce, AddisonRoach,andRylieErwinwithalaunchof 139 feet!

After launching, students had to write a reflection paper about their experience of designing, building, and testing a machine for the first time They were asked to identify flaws in their design, how they could improve, and information about quadratic functions and the parabolic path of the tennis ball (projectile) This hands-on STEAM experience incorporated creative thinking and problem solving in a fun, engaging way A very special thankstoall thosewhohelpedourstudentslearnbeyondtheclassroom!