Some of my best ideas for project work in the classroom with my students over the years has come from things I read in a magazine or book or seen elsewhere and have stolen the idea for teaching purposes. One such idea I saw recently involved the use of catapults made from found materials to eject candy pumpkins and see how far they can go. I use this example of a project-based classroom activity to stimulate some thoughts on maximizing student learning in a classroom and the why's and wherefores of problem-based learning.