Physics and Engineering Design Challenges

In Mr. Grossmann’s 11th grade Physics and Engineering class, students at Invictus are learning to be scientists: inventing, creating, and testing their work on a regular basis. This hands-on style class gives every student the opportunity to figure things out on their own, engage collaboratively with their peers, and meet a high academic bar for success. 

The entire course is designed around close to thirty (30) “Design Challenges,” which last anywhere from one day to two weeks long and are always part of an organized competition. In completing challenges, students exercise creative and critical thinking skills. Each design challenge requires that students work in teams to do things such as: build wooden bridges from popsicle sticks, design catapults, create a useful accessory for student desks, or deploy water bottle rockets! The concept for this class is based on Mr. Grossmann’s own experience as a college student. 

The design challenge element means that students are constrained by time and the pressure to complete the task; they need to prioritize how to spend their time in order to produce the best version of the product they are working on. After six years of teaching this class, Mr. Grossmann has found that it is the students who are committed to testing and retesting their designs that produce the strongest results. Mr. Grossmann learned this himself in his previous career as a mechanical engineer, where he had to continuously learn from mistakes during the testing of his team’s prototypes, ultimately leading to a successful, patented invention. 

Invictus students are being well prepared for the college coursework and jobs they will pursue after graduation - ready to solve relevant problems and communicate with confidence! 

Watch a video from bridge testing day! https://youtu.be/YmbD6UAarIA 

Launching catapaults!