Super Slinger Engineering Challenge
Like engineers, students in this activity follow the engineering design process to create and build their designs.Copyright (left) Pertsaboy, Wikimedia Commons; (right) 2009 Matt H. Wade, Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drawings_on_a_table.JPG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wold_Engineering_Center_Construction_Panorama.jpg
Students are challenged to design, build and test small-scale launchers while they learn and follow the steps of the engineering design process. For the challenge, the "slingers" must be able to aim and launch Ping-Pong balls 20 feet into a goal using ordinary building materials such as tape, string, plastic spoons, film canisters, plastic cups, rubber bands and paper clips. Students first learn about defining the problem and why each step of the process is important. Teams develop solutions and determine which is the best based on design requirements. After making drawings, constructing and testing prototypes, they evaluate the results and make recommendations for potential second-generation prototypes.
The engineering design process is a universally accepted method for achieving a desirable solution to an identified problem. This activity walks students through the engineering design process, which is critical to all engineering fields, as they apply basic engineering concepts to a design problem.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Identify and describe the parts of the engineering design process.
- Utilize the engineering design process to develop solutions to the assigned problems.
- Explain the reasons for their selected designs and material choices.