Paper Roller Coasters  − 16 October, 2007 - 31 October, 2007

This article is the fifth in a series which starts here.

This is the day I tie it all together.

You've seen my classroom in it's original (clean) state.  I let you see last year's 6th grade science class in action, designing their own spaceships.  Then I explained a common technique I use for introducing a subject, Jigsaws.

Jigsaws do not stand alone.  They are like the starting gate in a race.  There are always activities that build on the ideas presented in a Jigsaw.  Case in point:  Newton's Laws.

Now, in some evil, alternate universe (presumably the one where it's just like here, except Spock has a beard), I might be the type of teacher who leaves it there.  After all, the media machine accuses us of not being original, of teaching to the test, of "one size fits all" thinking.

Suppose we do original activities in our class.  Immediately after, some legislator reads the AP article about how teachers are all "failing our schools" and passes legislation that: 1.) takes away our originality by requiring us to all teach in a certain way, 2.) punishes us for not teaching to the test, and 3.) makes all these rules as general as possible, ignoring exceptions, because "one size fits all."

I'm hoping someone out there will read this and realize what's going on.  Original thinking is, in fact, going down the tubes.  Many of the older students, having been bombarded by standardized tests all their school career, simply cannot think of original solutions to problems.  They have been trained to think of A, B, C, and D.  They won't believe anything that's not in the book, and they don't want to learn anything that's not on the test.

But somehow, we are the failures.

Tie my hands and see how far I swim.

Anyway, here's the actual way I taught the chapter.

Newton's Laws of motion are everywhere.  Now, last year, we watched a video in class called "Roller Coaster Physics" (much more fun than talking about motion --- watching some interesting examples).  On my way in to school one morning, I thought it'd be a neat idea for them to build their own roller coasters.  But, the problem was the usual one: affording it.  How could I do it inexpensively?

I remembered I had all these marbles in one of my (legacy) science materials boxes (the school I teach at went through four science teachers in one year, before I came along).  But how to construct a track?

Suddenly, I was hit by an idea, a way of folding paper that would allow a curved track.

This had never been done before.

So I took a group of my best students in each class, gave them my idea, and let them run with it.

Now, I could have figured it out myself, built the prototype, and then showed them a working example.  Instead, why not let them figure it out and learn in the process?

They did it.  In fact, Erin's group (in 5th period) managed to make a fully functional, safe roller coaster (no marble "fatalities") in just two class periods.

Flash forward to this school year: 2007 to 2008.

I had kept the winning roller coaster, "Micro Magma", over the summer.  The new 6th graders had a working model.  I gave the project to everyone: it was a contest.  They would build a safe, working roller coaster, and then compete in any of 10 different categories.  I divided them up into two types:

Objective (measurable) contests:

1. Longest.
2. Tallest.
3. Fastest (requires teams to calculate average velocity).
4. Capacity (number of marbles the roller coaster can handle at once).
5. Number of loops and twists.

In the event of a tie in capacity, the longer coaster would win (since it carried them a greater distance); for a tie in loops and twists, the faster coaster would win (since it would generate more 'g' forces).  You can see a bit of this in the report I required them to write at the end: the instructions are given in the first photo, and a worked example (my roller coaster, which you'll see later) in the second photo below.
Subjective (opinion) contests, voted on by the class:

1. Most fun.
2. Most eye-catching.
3. Best concept and design (these had to have brochures, a name, a slogan, and the sketch of an ad campaign).
4. Best tricks.
5. Best constructed.

OK, here we go.  We'll look at some of them, then see a few scenes from the contest.

The first coaster (the one with the green sign and distinctive spelling) is the "Jajjwaire" (Jaguar).  They took a wild guess at the spelling, and after I corrected them, I said "But you know, people always do that in advertising: misspelling something to get attention."  So they ran with it.  The Jajjwaire eventually won most of the contests.  You see it partly constructed here, but at completion, it had the most twists and loops, was the tallest in the class, and could carry up to 12 marbles safely down the track.

The second picture is a shot of my room.  Obviously, the days of being tidy are over!

The next two photos are more examples -- notice how the second has a few features designed to scare people before they even get on the ride: a graveyard (for people who died on the ride) and a lake of blood.  Best of all was the brochure:  "This ride broke a lot while we were testing it.  Ride it and you might die."  Definitely scarier than the graveyard!

Next shows the detail of a loop on the Rainbow Rollercoaster (it was built on a cardboard box that said "Rainbow Foods", so had a naturally occurring theme).

Will my friends in France ever forgive me for this?  Yes, I built a roller coaster too.  In the first days, they kept ignoring my advice to cross brace their structures.  Every day, we'd come in and half the coasters had been attacked overnight by "Mr. Gravity."  (I'd always say, "Darn you gravity, you win again!")  So I built a demonstration model for the concept.  It . . . well, it looked like a certain famous structure in Paris, before I added the track, so I called it The Awful Tower.

At least one group took my advice, and came up with their own twisted tower concept (next photo).  But have a look at the next one:  The Ring of Fire (yes, named for the Johnny Cash song --- didn't I say these 6th graders are cool?)  This coaster ignored about 90% of my ideas and just flat out worked, leaping the marbles across about a 3 foot distance (most of the time!).

The last two photos are of roller coasters in action, during the contest.  If you look carefully, you can see the marbles rolling down them.

There's more to tell on this story, but it's actually ongoing.  They moved from roller coasters to space science.  Yes, this brilliant 6th grade is going to do the Design your own spaceship contest.  Except last year, it was loosely based on Apollo 13: a mission to the moon that goes wrong.

This year, the mission is going to be different.

I'll report on it as it happens, right here.

Stay tuned.

Continued.

Comments:

Previous story  |  Next story