This post has been generously sponsored by iTutorMaths – GCSE Maths Tutors in the UK
Yesterday instead of dutifully writing a blog post, I was having fun building catapults with kids. I was playing with a transdisciplinary lesson using Angry Birds as my inspiration. Yes, you read correctly-Angry Birds.
It doesn’t seem to matter what age group or demographic that I talk to, kids (and adults) everywhere are fans of Angry Birds. As I was playing around with Angry Birds (yep I’m a fan too), I started thinking about all of the learning that could be happening. I have watched a two year old tell an older sister that “you have to pull down to go up higher”. I have watched as kids master this game through trial and error. Being the teacher that I am, I started dreaming up a transdisciplinary lesson with Angry Birds as the base.
I happened to be writing an inquiry lesson that has students look at inventions throughout time and thought: the catapult-that is an invention that has technology and concepts that are used even today. This is one of those inspirational moments that comes when you are drifting off to sleep and has you frantically searching for paper and pen to record as fast as the ideas come. So what did I do? I got myself out of bed and went to work sketching out a super awesome plan.
Here is the embedded learning that I came up with:
- Primary Math: positional math language (above, below, left, right, bottom, biggest, smallest), measurement (distance), angles, shapes
- Intermediate Math: parabolas, velocity, angels, trajectory, acceleration, quadratic formulas
- Science: simple machines (lever), mechanics, force, energy, velocity/speed
- History: history of the catapult, changes made to catapult technology throughout history, modern-day inventions that use this technology
- Music: Tie in with history, what music was popular in the middle ages when catapults were invented (give students a feel for the culture of the time).
- Art: Tie in with history, what era of art was happening during the middle ages when catapults were invented (give students a feel for the culture of the time).
- Language Arts: reflection writing, reading text for information (non-fiction books and websites)
- Learning: application of Angry Birds on students as learners, application of building a catapult on students as learners (I can’t claim this one it was all @stumpteacher with this blog post).
I set up 3 stations of learning and exploration. In the first station students found Angry Birds on the iPads (now also available on the Internet in Chrome here), guiding questions, sticky notes and books on the history of catapults and simple machines. Guiding questions were on chart paper and invited kids to join in the question asking by jotting down their own “wonders” on sticky notes and adding them to the chart questions. At this station students “tested” Angry Birds and were asked to consider energy, force, acceleration, speed, angle and distance as they played. Kids had fun with this, I anticipated that they would stick strictly to the iPad and Angry birds but all of the kids looked through the books at some point. There was a lot of talk about strategy, what they noticed about angle and how far to pull back on the different levels to get the bird to reach the target.
At Station 2 students found random materials that they could use to build their own catapult. We included small blocks of wood, duct tape, string, rubber bands, paper clips, plastic cups, smaller dixie cups, paint stir sticks, popsicle sticks, plastic silverware, markers, empty toilet paper rolls, clothes pins and of course the marshmallow to launch. Students colored their marshmallow with sharpies to look like an Angry Bird (if doing this with kindergarten, be sure to mention that as soon as the marshmallow is colored, it is no longer food…we had a couple who were begging to eat the colored mallow!). Next, students went to work constructing their catapults. We offered no instructions and just let them go to town. There was a lot of trial and error but all of the kids (kindergarten through eighth grade) made working catapults. Students tested their catapult and experimented with speed, distance, accuracy, fulcrum, angle and force. After launching the marshmallow bird they measured for distance and recorded.
As students tested we asked them:
- What makes the catapult more accurate?
- What makes the bird go the furthest?
- Does mass affect the results?
- How do objects move?
- How do we calculate motion?
- What is acceleration?
- What is speed?
- What are some forces that act on objects in motion?
- How did the catapult set the marshmallow in motion?
- Which challenge did your catapult meet best, accuracy or distance?
- What helped the catapult?
- What kind of energy did your catapult use?
- What kind of force?
- What are other kinds of levers?
- What are simple machines?
- What happens when the arm of a lever is shortened or the load is moved?
- What happens to the force needed to make the load move?
- What happens when you move the fulcrum?
- What is the relationship between force and distance?
- What happens when you adjust the angle?
Students had a fantastic time learning through trial and error and working together to reach our pig targets. The collaboration among students was neat to watch, students would give each other ideas for fine-tuning the catapults to improve results.
In the third station, students had the opportunity to reflect on what they learned. We asked them to reflect literally and figuratively. Literally what did you learn about how a simple machine works, parabolas, measurement, etc. What did you learn about catapults and how the technology is used today? Then we asked them to think about the activity figuratively, what can Angry Birds teach them about life? What can it teach them about the learning process?
Older students looked at the math and science behind Angry Birds, using screen shots to determine if a bird would make it to the pigs based on parabolas.
Younger students labeled their catapult diagram with the language they learned about simple machines, force, and motion. Students also labeled the Angry Birds diagram.
To wrap up we discussed the middle ages as a class and went through some of the texts together. We read the history of the catapult and talked about why it was a necessary invention. We connected all of this with how the technology is currently being used on air craft carriers (the boys really got into that discussion).
Who knew you could learn so much from a game of Angry Birds?
Here are some of the resources that we used during this lesson:
Exceptional and creative. I can’t wait to share this with teachers this summer. Thank you. Learning can be fun! We need to make sure we never lose that perspective!
Kelly….you never cease to amaze.
Well done! Excellent learning going on, no doubt about it. I am new to your blog, and have found it to be very informational and practical. Thank you!
Great job! We are always learning something when playing games (all kinds of games–Angry Birds, Tetris, World of Warcraft…!) I wish more people would realize that!
Wow! Thank you so much for such a great post and clear analysis of how you are using this great program to inspire and guide inquiry learning in your class. We are an IB PYP school and we are just about to embark on our next unit of inquiry about forces. We were thinking of using Angry Birds but were stuck on how best to structure the various lessons we were outlining in our planning. Your post is exactly what we need! I can’t wait to share this with the teachers on the team. GREAT work and keep the inquiry going! 🙂
it is really great! i will definitely customize it and use it as a part of our studies. As a matter of interest, which books did you use at your first station?
This is fantastic! I am so impressed with this idea–a simple premise to use a wildly popular game in the classroom–with such well thought-out pedagogy to engage students.
My student teachers need to study this to see how *real* teaching is done, in a way that hits all the targets associated with pedagogy, student engagement, curriculum coverage and memorable, fun teaching!
Well done!
What a great idea and thank you for sharing. I am interested to know what program you used to create the reflection activity? The tabbed portfolio layout is excellent.
Dear Kelly,
Great post – loved the catapult idea. I’m just writing a magazine article about using Angry Birds across the curriculum using ICT. So, I will include a link to your blog 🙂
Take care,
Steve
Kelly, this is an amazing project. I am sure that you spent countless hours preparing this for the students not to mention the time spent in guiding the learning. Kudos!!!BE57
This is excellent! – I teach P1 (5 year olds) in Scotland and have been using angry birds as a context for many of my lessons this year.
I recently finished an angry birds wall display using positional maths language:
http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=11/04/06/451.jpg
Keep up the good work!
Lorna
Brilliant!
Awesome! We are studying the Middle Ages, this perfect.
I forwarded this on to my teachers and other librarians.
I am so excited about this whole set of lesson plans. I already emailed my husband (who uses Angry Birds already in class as a fun activity when there is extra time), who teaches high school math and we have been frantically going back and forth. My 2nd graders are going to do a variation on some of these lessons, his high school kids will do the same, and then we will Skype each other and share catapult models, insights, etc.
I so love this idea! Thank you for sharing it! I am going to use it with a group of gifted kids next year!
This is great. You could even by stuff Angry Birds for students to launch with prototypes that they create!
That would be fun! My students were making their own birds out of marshmallows, they turned out great!
Thanks Shannon, I hope your kids love it as much as mine did!
Love that you are connecting your classes and bridging the age divide that way Jennifer. What a neat idea! You’ll have to let us know how that goes!
Thanks for doing that Ruth!
Ahh, timing is everything huh Troy? 🙂
Love your display Lorna, thank you so much for sharing it here!
Thank you Suzanne, it was fun to put together!
Thanks for including me Steve!
Hi Chris, I used Apple’s Pages to create the reflection activity. I drew the tabbed portfolio using their shapes- very easy 🙂
Thanks for passing it on to your student teachers Peter!
I had about 35 🙂 I found some great books of all different levels on simple machines, catapults, levers, middle ages, air craft carriers and castles.
This would be perfect for an inquiry into forces! I hope you can use it Jessica. I will definitely keep the inquiry coming. I’m structuring my school around an inquiry model so there is a lot of that thinking happening right now!
Games include so much learning and learning opportunities, just silly not to take advantage of that!
Thank you, hope that you come back for more Jason 🙂
Ha ha, just have to be willing to look at things a little differently.
Yes, Learning SHOULD be fun! When we lose that we lose what makes it special.
This is great! I needed some activities to end the year with and this will work great for my G/T classroom. Thanks for sharing!
In the words of Einstein, ” Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Have fun, this would be a great way to end the year!
Great way to use Angry Birds! Similar ideas can be applied to this game I used to play called Gunbound. You use the laws of physics to propel the ball in order to destroy other players’ machines (taking into consideration the angle of your shooter and the wind strength and direction)
Fantastic!
I had my senior physics modeling the birds’ flight. It’s actually pretty accurate. I never thought of so many other applications though.
That is great Steve, I was impressed by the accuracy as well!