Catapult Chaos Comes to BMMS

There were screams, cheers and jeers. There were even plenty of spontaneous hugs.

The excitement was evident during sixth grade Art & Design class at Blue Mountain Middle School this week when students competed in a 12-team, bracket-style tournament that teachers Logan Krause and Paul Gioacchini dubbed Catapult Chaos.

“This was the first time we’ve done this,” Krause said. “The curriculum changed, and we thought this project would be a good way to incorporate all the different concepts the students have learned.”

During the fun event, small groups of students were matched up using their self-designed and 3D-printed catapults in a Crossbows-and-Catapults style elimination competition. Each group had one catapult and took turns going head-to-head against another group. The objective was to catapult a plastic projectile and knock down a flag on the opposing team’s castle.

Krause said the Catapult Chaos capped a two-week unit where the students learned about digital modeling and how to create a design on Tinkercad, an app used for 3D designs.

“They were able to use all the skills they learned to design and build their catapults,” Krause said.

After creating their designs, the students who were paired up in groups evaluated one another’s catapults to determine which one to use in the competition. They also learned how to best launch the projectiles, which became useful when they needed to adjust the launch angle during the contest.

The unit followed one of the class’ previous projects: designing a video game on Scratch, a visual computer programming language. Students who were idle during Catapult Chaos either played the video games they had designed or cheered on their classmates who manned the catapults.