Building Paper Roller Coasters

As the culminating activity for our Force & Motion unit, we created paper roller coasters.  You can purchase the paper roller coaster kits by clicking here.  We began by making the framework, then added the roller coaster elements, testing them as we went.  Once the coasters were finished, students created names for their coasters and posters and descriptions of the ride the marble takes on their coaster.  Students each had a specific job.

As you can see from the photos, each design is unique.  The paper roller coaster kits allow for a lot of student choice in their roller coaster designs!

We did roller coaster labs with pipe insulation before trying the paper roller coasters.  In those labs, students worked on understanding each individual element (loops, curves, hills, corkscrews, tunnels, hills) and the effect each element had on their marble.  We created posters and students recorded their observations on post-it notes.

We also created vocabulary posters related to the science behind the challenges.  These posters have a definition written in the students' own words as well as a diagram to illustrate the word.

If you are interested in purchasing the roller coaster starter pack (with foam pipe insulation), click here.