ASSIST LESSON PLAN

Section of
Lesson

Engineering Design Lesson

Title

Weapons of Siege

Introduction This lesson works well in project based learning classrooms.

Students will incorporate the engineering design process through a hands-on
activity that involves math and science. After researching medieval weapons
of siege, the students will construct a medieval machine and perform
experiments studying distance and mass.
Learning concepts include: levers, counterweight, inertia and friction.

Curriculum
Alignment

This section contains the curriculum alignment of the lesson to the North
Carolina NC Essential Standards of Science or Math, and the Next
Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or Common Core Math.
Content
Grade NC Essential Standards NGSS / Common Core
Area
Level
Math
Math
11-12
F-IF.4 Interpreting
Functions
Science
11-12 Phy. 1.1 Analyze the HS.PS.2.1 - Analyze data
motion of objects
to support the claim that
Newtons second law of
Phy 1.2 - Analyze
motion describes the
systems of forces and
mathematical relationship
their interaction with
among the net force on a
matter.
macroscopic object, its
mass, and its acceleration.
Phy 1.3 - Analyze the
motion of objects based
on the principles of
conservation of
momentum,
conservation of energy
and impulse.
Technology 11-12

Learning
Outcomes

July 10, 2014

STL 9 Develop an
understanding of the
Design Process

The students will develop an understanding of the weapons of siege

used during the medieval time period.

ASSIST LESSON PLAN

The students will use mind mapping to break down their siege weapon
and learn how it works.
The students will work in groups of two to design a siege weapon.
The students will construct their siege weapon.
The students will predict how far their weapon will throw.
The students will compete against each other in various events;
distance, accuracy and predictability.
The students will construct a presentation which outlines the Design
Process used for this activity and what they learned from the history
of siege weapons.

This lesson is designed for 15 days on a block schedule with 87 90 minute

Time
Required and class periods. It will take twice as long if on traditional 45 minute class
period.
Location
A classroom with 1-1 computers and a work area would be good.
It would be ideal if there was access to a shop.
Materials
Needed

Teacher list:
Various building materials: wood, metal, rope or string, fabric, nails,
screws, dowels, PVC pipe. Many of this can be donated or brought in by
students.
Various tools: saw, drill, hammer, screwdriver,
Student List:
Computer 1-1 or 1-2
Notebook

Safety

When working with hand tools or power tools all safety protocols should be
followed.

Student Prior Students should already know about the Engineering Design Process.
Knowledge
Students should already know how to create a mind map.
To predict the flight of the projectile, student should have a basic
understanding of projectile motion.
The construction of the device doesnt have any required prior knowledge,
however it would be helpful if the students knew how to use hand tools.
Teacher
Preparations

Become familiar with the free mind mapping program XMind6.

Decide upon the size of footprint limits for the weapon. (ie 2x2, 12x12)
Decide what type and size of projectile the students will be firing. (ie. Clay,
Ping Pong ball, water balloon)

July 10, 2014

ASSIST LESSON PLAN

Divide the class into teams of 2.

Create a target, a bulls eye pattern works best. You can draw it on foam
board or plywood. 3 by 3 works well.
Activities

Day 1-2 - Engage: Find a video on YouTube which shows a catapult or

trebuchet firing a water balloon. Here is one example:
https://youtu.be/j5XbvNdbimw
Explore: Instruct the students to individually research medieval weapons of
siege. Have them take notes to later put into a presentation. Include the
answers to these questions: Which years does the medieval period cover?
What civilizations used these weapons? What are the different types of
weapons? How do the weapons work?
Explain to students that the remainder of the project they will be needing to
complete a presentation at home on medieval weapons. Using a presentation
software of their choosing, (PowerPoint, Prezi etc) create a presentation
which should last 4-5 minutes.
Day 3 - Explain: Take the information from the research and begin the
design process.
Identify the problem to the students: Design and build a device that will
throw a water balloon a certain distance. (Begin with the end in mind.) At the
end we will have a competition where a target will be set up between 5 feet
and 20 feet away so that the students will have to design their device so that it
can be calibrated to hit between those distances.
Elaborate: Discuss the specifics of the problem.
Constraints:
The device can be made of any material.
The device must fit into a 2 x 2 x 2 box.
The device must throw a water balloon a distance between 4 and 20.
Use mind mapping to break down the systems of a trebuchet or catapult.
Day 4 - Each student must create 3-5 different sketches of their device.
Each team will decide which design they would like to build. (They should
use a decision matrix to help make this decision. Some criteria to judge the
designs could be: Ease of construction, fit constraints, reliability etc.)
They will come up with a parts list and gather the materials.
Day 5-7 Construct their device.
Day 8-9 - Test their device.
Day 10-11 Calibrate their device to throw their projectile between 4 and
20
Day 12-13 Competition days To determine the distance the team will
throw, each team will draw their distance from a hat. Have strips of paper
with intervals of 2 feet written on the paper (ie. 4, 6, 8, 10 . . . . 20)
Students will select their strip of paper and set up their device to throw that

July 10, 2014

ASSIST LESSON PLAN

distance. Place the target at that distance, give them 3 attempts at the distance
and record the closest shot.
Day 14-15 Presentation day Students will present their Weapons of Siege
presentation which they have been working on when they had free time at
school or at home.
Assessment

Evaluate:
Students will have 2 grades for this activity:
70% - Their device accuracy compared to the others in the class. Depending
on how many teams are in the class divide the grades up so that 1st place gets
a 100 and the last place gets around a 70 and the others are evenly
distributed. For example:
If there are 10 groups there would be 3 points separating everyone:
1st place 100
2nd place 97
3rd place 94
.......
10th place - 73
30% - The presentation will be graded using the Presentation Rubric attached.

Modifications The following modification could be made for middle school classes or
students with special needs:
Use trebuchet kits from Pitsco http://www.pitsco.com/Trebuchet_Kits?sku=W26635
they are $10.95 each.
The footprint could be smaller and the projectile could be different.

Comments

July 10, 2014

This is a very fun lesson. The students really enjoy it. You can increase their
level of interest by having you, the instructor, be the target for the water
balloon. I would sit down on the grass at the designated distance and they
could fire their device. I actually didnt very wet.