In this project, we worked in small groups to design and build a functioning counterweight trebuchet. A counterweight trebuchet is a type of siege machine that uses a counterweight to swing the arm of the trebuchet and send an object into projectile motion. We built our own trebuchets to show our deep understanding of projectile motion. The characteristics of the trebuchet had to fit in with a certain era. We had to determine what tactics and approaches worked best to make our trebuchet launch a projectile as far as possible.
The counterweight trebuchet transfers potential energy into kinetic energy. A trebuchet uses the energy of a falling counterweight to launch a projectile. This builds acceleration to create a more powerful launch speed. That motion basically takes the force of gravity and uses it to fling an object. All of this contributes to the action of achieving a greater velocity. Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object, and velocity is how fast something is moving in a given direction. Thus, the point is proven.
Counterweight trebuchets are similar to catapults, but rather than the projectile being sent in a throwing motion, it is more for a flinging motion. There is a release pin on the end of the swing arm used to attain the perfect release angle. When the arm is at a 45 degree angle, the ring is meant to slide off of the release pin, so that it doesn’t go straight up or down. The release pin’s purpose is so that the object doesn’t stay in the bottom of the pouch on the end of the sling, and it is able to be thrown. The 45 degree angle creates an arc so that the object is sent into an outward projectile motion, reaching a greater distance.
Being a community of learners in the trebuchet project meant working together to help each other learn and accomplish new tasks. Communication was a crucial element to the completion of the project. We had to learn how to communicate with each other to be able to work more efficiently, whether we were in the same small groups or not. People had to know where things were, or if someone needed help. We had to find ways of letting each other know what we needed to bring for our group or if we needed to come in early of stay late to finish things. We needed to learn to communicate about who was doing what, or if someone wasn’t going to be able to make it to school that day, and whether we were going to be able to finish the construction within the deadlines that were given.
As a team of learners, we also had to learn to collaborate with each other. That didn’t just mean doing an equal amount of hard labor, it also meant putting in ideas and letting others share their thoughts and opinions in the group. We all had to put in some of our own creativity because building a functioning trebuchet was not a very simple task for one person to complete alone. The project was also a team effort To prevent arguments and failure, we also had to help each other develop critical thinking skills. At times some people just weren’t thinking very rationally about the situation and we had to help them understand that their choices could lead us to failure.
During this project, I felt very challenged with some leadership problems in my group. Granted I wasn’t perfect but one person was doing all the work and we were only using their ideas and not contributing any of our own. They were also the only person doing any of the construction on the trebuchet, and our job was to hand him things and hold things in place. At first, I honestly didn’t handle this very maturely. I just talked about it, sat around with the other group members, obeyed what he told me to do, and let it all happen. Then I acted like I was really bothered by the situation and complained about it, but I never tried to make it better. Tina eventually helped me realize that if I wanted to be able to collaborate with my group members and get things done as a team, I had to confront people and respectively communicate with them about what I was feeling and the consequences of our actions. When I was able to do that towards the end of the project, our communication skills improved tremendously and we were able to present our finished product as a whole group who all put in effort.
In the beginning, I didn’t bring a whole lot of purpose to my group. Some of my personal strengths are definitely communication and creativity, but I was very indolent in the beginning of the project. Towards the end though, I helped resolve some of the issues that we were having by communicating with my teammates. This helped us to be able to work more smoothly and efficiently. Though there were quite a few rough spots while we were getting started, we all picked ourselves up and started thinking more critically about our grades and the deadlines. This project ended up being very enjoyable, and we all ended up getting along in the end.