Lever Project

In May 2000 Brent Bauer, then Grade 6/7 teacher, obtained a grant from The TELUS Learning Connection to develop this project. The purpose of the project was to design, build and test a catapult and a trebuchet to demonstrate to students the practical application of levers. As a result of the project Brent developed a set of drawings, the Arm Blueprint and the Base Blueprint, which are now available for other teachers to use in the classroom.

Project Phases :

1. Students watched a Bill Nye video on levers.
2. Students built popsicle stick catapults, tested them and took them home.
3. Students watched a NOVA video showing trebuchets throwing pianos.
4. Teacher developed prototypes for a 4-foot catapult and a 4-foot trebuchet.
5. Students built and tested one catapult and one trebuchet based on the prototypes.

Photographs of Project :

Brent Bauer in his workshop preparing the the class kits.

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The kits before they were dismantled and taken to the school for the students to put together.

A miniature trebuchet completed from Brent’s kit.

The final 4-foot trebuchet.  With about 25 lbs of chain in the box, it could throw a 1/2 lb ball of clay 30 yards.

The final 4-foot catapult model.  With about 25 lbs of weight on the stick, it could throw a 1/2 lb ball of clay only 10 yards.

Note : The models viewed in the photographs were slightly different than that of the blueprint. The blueprint is a final revision of problem solving as the kits were fine-tuned.

This site is maintained by Gordon Poultney, a parent of the school.