Drawing

DEPCOllc

3305 Airport Drive | Pittsburg, KS 66762

Totally Trebuchet Overview

Introduction

The GEARS-EDS Totally Trebuchet Program combines SolidWorks

with STEM based lessons

and activities. The comprehensive Totally Trebuchet Program described on these two pages is

available from GEARS-EDS at http://www.gearseds.com/ or from SolidWorks resellers. Included

on the disk is a small sampling of our math, science and engineering curriculum.

Trebuchets are fun to design, build and use. The Totally Trebuchet curriculum is a suite of self-paced

tutorials, teacher-led lessons and project-based activities. This educational program provides an

organized structure in which students and teachers acquire engineering skills and competencies through

the design, construction, refinement and competitive use of model trebuchets. Totally Trebuchet lessons

and activities demonstrate how math, science and engineering skills can be applied to the solution of an

open-ended engineering challenge.

Content

Totally Trebuchet is an interdisciplinary engineering education exercise in which teams of students

develop and employ transferable skills and competencies in one or all of the following areas:

• Science

• Engineering

• Mathematics

• Engineering Drawing

• Communication and Careers

The Build Report / Notebook

The build report is the essential element or “Deliverable” expected from students who participate in this

program of engineering education lessons and activities. The Build Report includes:

• Solid Models, working drawings and COSMOS analysis that graphically describes trebuchet

components and assemblies

• Research papers and presentations.

• Mathematical models used to describe or predict trebuchet parts or performance.

• Data from design iterations modeled on the TrebStar

trebuchet simulator.

• Spreadsheet analysis that includes the amounts, cost and weights of components and materials

used to fabricate trebuchet parts and assemblies.

• Logs or diaries that chronicle the engineering design process which includes ideation,

construction, testing and making the changes necessary to produce a working trebuchet.

• Class notes, teacher tests or quizzes, lesson worksheets and evidence of participation in the

activities.

Assessment

Educational success is best evidenced by a student’s ability to clearly articulate what they know and are

able to do. The measure of a student’s participation in the Totally Trebuchet program of activities is

evaluated in these three ways: Demonstrations of their competencies and skills, the quality of their build

report, and the caliber of their engineering performance in the Totally Trebuchet challenge games.