When setting out expectations for a project with the children, Mrs. Farber and I seldom show them an example as they all want to make exactly what was shared with them and not create something of their own. With the catapult project we showed them a video of a simple working catapult as many of them were unfamiliar with the term and, predictably, most of them chose to try and make the exact same catapult rather than playing and exploring with the materials and coming up with their own ideas. So we have revisited the catapult idea yet again, this time providing an expanded selection of materials to choose from and reminding them to revise their original ideas and improve upon them as needed. Some of them had a difficult time expanding their thinking beyond their first try and others rose to the occasion and eagerly modified their catapults to make them bigger and better. We will continue to work on encouraging the children to change and rethink and tweek their ideas to improve on them as the year goes on.
