A Thrilling Loop-da-Loop!

Challenge
Did you or are you going to visit an amusement park this summer? What is your favorite ride there: ferris wheel, merry-go-round, water slides, roller coaster, or other?  A roller coaster seems to be a crowd favorite with all of the twists, turns, being upside down, downhill speed, and loop-da-loops! Have you ever thought about trying to design a sample roller coaster?
 
This month’s challenge has you experimenting with materials to create a model roller coaster and experiencing the different attributes they have in order to work properly. Your challenge is to use the materials to make a roller coaster that has the passengers (a marble) going from the start to the finish in a slow manner, a fast manner, over a small hill, over a big hill, over two hills, through a loop-da-loop, through two loop-da-loops, and more of your choosing.
 
You can approach this challenge in a few different ways with different materials, but one way is to use foam pipe insulation, a large marble, masking tape, and a plastic/paper/foam cup. Cut the foam pipe insulation in half on its side to create the track for the marble. Tape multiple tracks together to make it longer and to adhere it to the different surfaces. Tape the cup at the end of track so the marble stops inside instead of rolling all over. Now your ready to start the challenges!

Materials

• masking tape
• foam insulation pipes
• large marbles
• plastic/paper/foam cups
• scissors

 
Hints and Tips for Success

1. Have students start out going in order of the challenges as listed above to the more complex ideas.
2. Only give students a certain length of foam (6') to conduct the initial challenges before building more detailed roller coasters.
3. Have students reflect and compare their results of what worked and didn’t work with each challenge.
4. Connect to science by discussing the concepts of forces such as gravity since the marble is being pulled toward the ground on the roller coaster.
5. Connect to ELA by reading the book, Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee, which shows different emotions of 12 people getting on and riding a roller coaster. This book is excellent for inferring from the character’s faces and by what is going to happen next by observing the pictures.
6. Use different types of balls (ping pong, foosball, wooden ball, bouncy ball, ball bearing) to see if they act the same on the roller coaster. Conduct different experiments to see which ball is the fastest/slowest through the track and have discussions about the trials.