Design-A-Rollercoaster Fun!

We had a blast in the lab today designing Roller Coasters!

Design-A-Rollercoaster Freebie

Steps to completing the lab:

1. Students design and draw a hypothesis of a rollercoaster.

2. Students test the rollercoaster with a BB pellet.

3. They record their changes and create a new design.

4. The process continues until they create a successful rollercoaster.

5. Write a conclusion reflecting on the process making sure to use key vocabulary: kinetic energy, potential energy, and gravitational potential energy.

Materials: lab tubing (about 5 feet per group), tape (5 pieces only!), BB pellet

Prior to completing this lab....

I showed my students this short video:

Student Made YouTube Video on Energy of Roller Coasters

Used these interactive links on my mimeo/projector:

Potential and Kinetic Energy - How Roller Coasters Work

Potential and Kinetic Energy - Energy in a Roller Coaster (same interactive activity with better graphics)

After completing this lab....

We went to the computer lab for them to each take this online quiz:

Roller Coaster 14 Question Quiz

Ball Drop Lab.

A Kinetic and Potential Energy Lab

The lab ran smoothly and the kids enjoyed it.
I have shared it on my TpT account for you to download!

And here are some half decent interactive sites I used with my mimeo today (the kids love any opportunity to use the mimeo pen):

Temperature & Kinetic Energy
Potential and Kinetic Energy - Paint Buckets on a Ladder

And some video clips:  Surprisingly, my kids voted they liked the "older one" best. (embedded below)

Brain Pop - Potential Energy 

Brain Pop - Kinetic Energy

Cross Curricular Video (History)- Energy Transfer in a Trebuchet

Check back next week for a Roller coaster Lab Freebie and fun interactive links & videos!