May 8, five teams of students will test their homemade, eight-foot tall trebuchets by launching water filled milk jugs at several targets in the field behind the Marshall Street Armory in Lansing.
Trebuchets are large catapults used during the Middle Ages to crush walls or launch things over them. Five teams of K-12 students and college students will each take an eight-week trebuchet design course at Lansing's Impression 5 Science Center (I5). After five weeks of training, each team will design an eight-foot trebuchet.
The teams, comprised of 5-10 students, will use all aspects of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to design the trebuchets and will have to apply these skills on competition day, the goal being to hit various targets with the water laden milk jugs.
“This opens kids eyes to STEM,” says Paul Jaques, Michigan State University (MSU) internship coordinator and trebuchet facilitator. “They’ll work as a team and they’ll even get into construction. Hopefully this will become a yearly event where schools and students look forward to having somewhat of a competition.”
Jaques is not aware of other cities engaged in Trebuchet Day, but the concept is based, in part, on the Discovery Channel’s punkin chunkin' show.
Trebuchet Day was developed by MSU, I5, YSG Lansing and Linking Lansing & U.
The workshops start March 8 and include eight weeks of 1.5-hour sessions. For more information regarding Trebuchet Day, click here.
Source: Paul Jaques, MSU
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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