Grade 1 students put on their engineering hats this week! As part of their Balance and Motion Science Unit, students have been experimenting with different items that roll - cylinders, objects with wheels, and spheres - and observing their motion. After an exploration with spheres, the students wondered about what would be needed to design a GIANT marble run and successfully move the marble through it. They experimented to figure out how to give a marble enough momentum that would allow it to go up a hill or through a loop-de-loop. Using the concepts learned throughout the unit, they talked about the force of gravity and the energy stored within the marble that enables it to get all the way through the marble run.

Working as a group, the students built their "roller coaster" piece by piece. There was some trial and error (as there often is in science!) but eventually, the students achieved success and the marble made it all the way through the marble run - complete with uphills and loop-de-loops! What a "eureka" moment!