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DISCUSS:
The first hill of a roller coaster is always the highest. Why can't the second or third hill be higher than the first?
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DISCUSS:
Why does the marble make it over the lower hill, but not the higher one?
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Time check!
The following Bumper Coaster activity can take up to an hour.
If your time is limited, you might want to save the activity for your next science lesson.
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Teachers: If you are short on time, this is a good stopping point. We recommend leaving your students' tracks set up so they can get right to their final experiments at the start of the next session.
If you’re continuing right now, advance to the next slide.
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Explore energy using a playground swing. Swinging with Style is a playground activity that gives kids a chance to burn off energy while learning science. Your students will gather data in the playground, then graph and analyze their results.
Science of Swinging is a more extended exploration of pendulums. It provides detailed background information for the teacher.
Both resources were created by Teach Engineering, a digital library of classroom science resources compiled by university educators with National Science Foundation support.
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In the last lesson, we provided instructions for making a basic Bumper Coaster, using paper, scissors, and tape. That coaster starts with a hill, but the rest of the track is level.
Here’s a challenge: can you add more hills to that bumper coaster track? You can use paper, scissors, and tape. To make your hills, you can stack boxes or books.
Your track starts with a tall hill. Can you add a medium hill and a small hill?
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Grade 4
Energy & Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer & Engineering
4-PS3-1, 4-PS3-3
| Bumper Coaster Hill Tracks printout | Print 8 copies |
| Bumper Coaster with Hills worksheet | 30 copies |
| Bumper Coaster with Hills Answer Key teacher-only resource | 1 copy |
| Low Hills, Medium Hills, and Hill Holder printout | Print 8 copies |
|
Box
Any box measuring 20 cm (or 8”) high will work. The most important thing is to have enough space for the track and the students to work.
A stack of books will also work. You can even use empty space on the wall to attach the roller coaster, as long as the track sits at 20 cm (8” high).
|
Details
8 boxes
|
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Bumper Coaster Tracks and Alligator from Energizing Everything Lesson 2
|
8 set of tracks and alligators |
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Pencil
|
30 pencils |
|
Rulers
|
8 rulers |
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Scissors
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30 pairs |
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File Folder Labels (Stickers)
Tape also works. We prefer stickers because they are easier to distribute in a classroom.
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Details
16 stickers
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Paper Clips
|
144 clips |
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Small Marbles
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16 marbles |
NOTE: If you want to make Bumper Coasters with foam tubing, you can view the previous version of this lesson.
We suggest students work in the same groups of four from Lesson 2. Homeschool students can work on their own, but will need to build all roller coaster tracks and hills.
Each roller coaster with hills extends about 1.2 meters (a little over 4 feet) from the box, stack of books, wall, or other surface that it’s attached to. Each group of four students will need this amount of space to work through the activity. If you don’t have enough floor space, a few student desks pushed together with a stack of books on top should work.
The entire lesson with the activity will take about an hour. There is a natural stopping point after students finish building their roller coaster tracks and before they start experimenting. If you are pressed for time or have a short class period, we recommend splitting this lesson into two sessions.
Cut enough stickers so that you have two for each group of four students that will build a roller coaster. The stickers need to be no wider than 2 centimeters so that they can fit and adhere to the roller coaster track.
Experimenting with marbles is fun, but it can also be distracting! We recommend waiting to distribute the marbles and worksheets until after students have finished building their tracks and hills.
Grade 4
Energy & Energy Transfer
Energy Transfer & Engineering
4-PS3-1, 4-PS3-3
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