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The first day that we went to the Argenziano school, the activity was to teach the kids about restoring force and then have them make catapults. We asked the kids if they remembered anything that they learned last semester and some of the them named the different types of engineering that they learned about. Then we started to talk about the lesson for the day. We used gravity, a rubber band/slinky, and bungee jumping as examples of restoring forces. The kids were able to connect the distance and the force, so that they understood that the greater the distance the larger the force. After teaching them the lesson, we handed out a worksheet so they could write down what a restoring force is and draw a picture of their catapult. It was a good idea for them to draw a picture of their design so that they could plan what they were going to build. Then we handed out popsicle sticks, rubber bands, cups, and there bendable sticks that they the teacher said we could use. For about 20-30 minutes the students built their catapult working in groups of two or three. Each group came up with a unique design. Some were simple and just involved pulling back one of the bendable sticks and others were a little more complicated. Each group got to launch a small ball and we looked at whose catapult shot the ball the furthest. The kids all wanted to keep their catapults so the teacher put them in the back of the classroom. It was a really good activity overall as the kids were engaged in building the entire time and I think they had fun and learned a lot.
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