Roller Coaster Engineering

In this activity, kids work together to create a fun and fantastic roller coaster! At Boston Children's Museum, we use this activity for summer camps, school field trip programs, and in our STEAM Lab. It is easily adaptable for older or younger audiences-- these modifications are highlighted at the end of the activity guide.

While this activity introduces important scientific concepts like gravity, momentum, and friction, we like to focus on how it supports children's STEAM Habits of Mind. This Roller Coaster engineering challenge highlights the following STEAM Habits of Mind: persistence, problem solving, and creativity.

Try this out with your students and let us know what you think!

We recommend the following items for this activity (items listed per group of 2-4 kids):

• 1 roll of painter's tape
• 10-15 toothpicks
• 3 marbles
• 1 tin can-- we put duct tape the edges, to avoid cuts and scrapes
• 4 pipe insulation halves (you will need to use scissors or a knife to cut the tubes into halves)

We also recommend having furniture like chairs, low tables, or step stools available as kids may want to use them to give their roller coasters some height.

• Optional: you may want to begin this activity by reading students a book that focuses on engineering and persistence. We recommend The Most Magnificent Thing or Boxitects. Draw students attention to the fact that the characters in the books did not "get it right" the first time, they tried many different ideas and approaches when working on a project.
• Start by telling students that they will be building roller coasters today! Poll students: who likes roller coasters and who dislikes roller coasters?
• For the students who like roller coasters, ask them what about roller coasters they enjoy (for examples, loops, jumps, speed). Ask the students who don't like roller coasters what about them they don't like-- they will probably list the same features! Tell students to keep these features in mind as they construct their projects.

Introduce the materials that students will be working with. Demonstrate how to connect to pieces of pipe insulation together using toothpicks as shown above.

Divide students into groups of 2-4. Before breaking off into groups, review with the class best practices for being a good team member.

Once students are in groups, give them the challenge (see alternative challenges in step 7): Groups will need to work together to create a fun roller coaster using all four pieces of their pipe insulation. They will be creating one roller coaster, but will need to include everyone's ideas!

Once everyone is divided into groups, give kids time to brainstorm and share their ideas.

Pass out the materials and give groups 20 minutes to work on their roller coasters.

• Some groups may need adult help with ripping the tape. Rip 10-15 pieces and leave them on the side of a table so groups can access them when needed.
• Encourage groups to test their designs as they go, by sending a marble down the roller coaster. Encourage kids to observe what happens to the marble as it travels-- does it bounce off course somewhere? Does it slow down somewhere?

After groups have had enough time to work on their roller coasters, it's time for a showcase! Assemble the class back together. Remind everyone that no matter what happens during the showcase, they will support their classmates-- they can do this by applauding, giving compliments, or anything else that is standard for your classroom!

Have groups get up one by one and demonstrate their roller coasters. Invite them to share what features they included on their roller coasters and why they chose these features.

At the end of the showcase, remind students that real engineers who design roller coasters have weeks, months, or years to do so! They only had 20 minutes. If given enough time, they could have troubleshooted all of their problems and produced the results they desired!

This activity can be modified for older or younger students, using the advice below--

For older students:

• During step one, do an in depth discussion of gravity, friction, and momentum. You can use the tubes and marbles to demonstrate these forces.
• Add a 5th piece of pipe insulation.
• Tell groups they must include either a jump or a loop-de-loop in their design.

For younger students:

• Do mini challenges and give each group 5-7 minutes per challenge. Possible challenges can include: design a roller coaster where the ball moves as fast as possible, design a roller coaster where the ball moves as slowly as possible, design a roller coaster that has a jump, design a roller coaster with a hill, etc.
• Make smaller groups.