Fall STEM Challenge: The Great Pumpkin Slinger - SMART Notebook - Grades 5-8

Looking for a great fall STEM activity that incorporates collaboration, critical thinking, drawing, measurement, and scientific engineering skills? Try the Great Pumpkin Slinger Fall STEM Catapult Challenge.

This product presents a scenario to the students where a local radio show wanted to launch pumpkins for distance but needed a way to do so. Students are challenged to construct a "pumpkin slinger" or catapult. The students are given a materials list of common household items that they may use in the process of developing their prototype. Students complete the STEM Design Steps throughout this process and eventually will test their prototypes, troubleshoot any issues, and redesign to try to yield a better product. Students can compete against each other in a friendly competition to see whose catapult can launch a marshmallow peep the greatest distance. Who will be crowned the Pumpkin Slinger Champion in your class?

Read this blog post about a middle school class who conducted this lab here!

Included in this Package:
• Corresponding SMART Notebook Presentation (23 slides in SMART Notebook)
→ Prefer PowerPoint? Click Here!
• Student Lab Handout (4 pages in pdf)
• Detailed Lesson Plan (4 pages in pdf)

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The Great Pumpkin Slinger by Angela Willyerd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.