Engineering a marshmallow launch
Fifth graders at Raven Stream Elementary School in New Prague took aim on Wednesday, Nov. 21, with miniature catapults they made. Their ammo was a marshmallow and their objective was to learn about engineering design. This was the third year the fifth graders made marshmallow launchers. The purpose of the project was for them to learn about the engineering design process, where they identified a problem and then worked to solve it. The students had to design a better launcher. On November 21, the fifth graders gathered in the cafeteria to test the devices for accuracy and shooting distance. With their classmates cheering them on, the students aimed to sink a marshmallow into a small plastic tub and then teachers put down a tape measure to see which student could shoot the furthest. The project was part of the STEM program, which is Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.