Students investigate how gravity, kinetic energy, mass, speed, and forces shape a rollercoaster’s motion and safety. In teams, they plan, build, test, and revise a paper or cardboard track that guides a marble through hills, drops, turns, and a safe stopping barrier. A midway gallery walk supports peer feedback, reflection, shared decision-making, and clear next steps. Students use test data and final reflections to explain design changes and what they learned about rollercoaster science.

Students will explain how gravity, kinetic and potential energy, mass, speed, and Newton’s Third Law affect a marble rollercoaster’s motion and safety. They will collaboratively plan, build, test, and revise a paper or cardboard track that guides a marble through hills, drops, turns, and a controlled collision or stopping feature. Students will collect and graph test data to identify relationships among mass, speed, and kinetic energy and use evidence to improve their designs. During a midway gallery walk and final exit reflection, they will describe new ideas, feedback received, design changes, and what they learned about rollercoaster science.

Student teams will create a labeled track plan and build a paper or cardboard marble rollercoaster with hills, drops, turns, and a safe stopping or collision feature. They will collect trial data and create graphs showing how marble mass or speed relates to kinetic energy and track performance. During a midway gallery walk, students will produce a reflection summarizing peer feedback, new ideas, and next steps before revising their designs. Final products will include the tested coaster, a brief demonstration explaining gravity, energy, motion, and Newton’s Third Law, and an exit reflection describing revisions and learning.

Launch with a short marble-track demonstration featuring a drop, hill, turn, and collision, then have teams predict, observe, and discuss how gravity, kinetic energy, speed, mass, and forces affect motion. Teams complete a quick design challenge using paper or cardboard to move a marble safely through one hill and one turn, collecting trial data and sketching a simple graph. Introduce the essential question and the final challenge: build and revise a safe marble rollercoaster with hills, drops, and turns. Share success criteria and explain that teams will use a midway gallery walk reflection and final exit reflection to document feedback, revisions, new ideas, and science learning.

Host a Rollercoaster Design Expo where teams demonstrate their paper or cardboard models moving a marble safely through hills, drops, and turns for classmates, families, or another class. Students present how gravity, energy, motion, and Newton’s Third Law informed their planning, testing, and revisions, using trial data or graphs as evidence. Each team shares feedback received during the midway gallery walk, the changes they made, and one remaining design challenge. Visitors leave brief feedback, and students complete a final exit reflection about new ideas, revisions, and what they learned about rollercoaster science.