To invent a way to deliver a note across a fixed distance.
- wooden spools, enough for 2 pulleys per team
- wire coat hangers
- wire cutters
- copy of the "Great Escape Challenge" student handout
- 7 meters of string
- two pulleys
- paper clips
- wooden laundry clips
- paper cups
The men at Stalag Luft 3 had few resources and many challenges to overcome as
they tried to escape their prison. Using ingenuity, resourcefulness, and
perseverance they managed to build a tunnel that allowed 76 men to escape. In
this activity, students will use a set of resources to devise a way to deliver
a note across several meters.
Organize students into teams and distribute copies of the student handout
and a set of materials to each team.
Explain that each team must devise a way to send a note back and forth
across three meters, using only the materials provided. Tell students they are
not required to use every material. (See directions below for how to make a
Allow students to discover for themselves how pulleys might be used for the
challenge. When teams have completed the challenge, have each team present its
method to the class and explain how team members came up with their design.
Working with students, develop ways to evaluate designs, noting that no
single best design exists and that different tasks require different
As an extension, ask students to research other great escapes in history.
For more information, see Great Escapes at www.pbs.org/nova/naziprison/escapes.html
a 25 cm length of wire from the coat hanger. Slide the wire through a wooden
spool. Allow one end of the wire to extend farther than the other. Use pliers
to bend the wire at right angles on either side of the spool. Bend the short
end of the wire around the other to secure the ends together. Bend the long end
into a hook.
pulley consists of a freely turning wheel and a rope. The wheel is fixed to a
support and the rope runs over the wheel. In this activity, students can
discover how to use pulleys to change the direction of force (e.g., pulling a
rope down to hoist a flag up). Pulleys can be made with just one wheel, or
with two or more wheels.
Students' designs will vary. If students are having difficulty understanding
how a pulley can be used to change direction of force, have them experiment
with one pulley, noting how when they pull down on the string, the object
attached to the other end is lifted up. Some teams may design systems that do
not involve pulleys. These are valid inventions and provide an opportunity to
compare different designs and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
There are dozens of applications that resemble a pulley system. Elevators
operate on pulley systems. Some students may be familiar with clotheslines that
operate on a similar principle, with a single loop of rope running continually
around the system. Ski lifts use the same model, as do flag poles in a
NOVA Web Site—Great Escape
Find articles, interviews, interactive activities, and resources in this
companion Web site to the program.
The Great Escape
Provides an overview of the 1944 great escape, including information about the
escape committee, key personnel, the tunnels, the victims, and the survivors.
The Great Escape.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.
Tells the story of how, in order to escape a Nazi prison, inmates ingeniously
built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and
tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes.
Vance, Jonathan F.
The Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape.
New York: Ibooks, 2003.
Provides background on each of the officers who took part in the March 1944
Stalag Luft 3 escape, chronicling each of their roles and ultimate outcomes.
The "Great Escape Challenge" activity aligns with the following
National Science Education Standards:
Science Standard B:
Motions and forces:
Science Standard E:
Science and Technology
Design a solution or product
Students should make and compare different proposals in the light of the
criteria they have selected. They must consider constraints—such as cost,
time, trade-offs, and materials needed—and communicate ideas with
drawings and simple models.
Classroom Activity Author
classroom activity originally appeared in the companion Teacher's Guide for
NOVA's "Secrets of the Lost Empires I: Colosseum" program.