At a glance
Kinetic Energy is a 60 or 75 minute workshop for grades 4 to 7 and grade 10. Students defy gravity by building their own roller coasters, where marbles must travel the longest possible track, and describe how energy moves between potential and kinetic forms.
Click, click, click! Your stomach tightens: the roller coaster car has just reached the top… the brake is released and AAAH!… Who can keep their arms up?
Defy gravity and use energy transfers to build your own “roller coasters”, where little marbles must travel the longest route possible.
Your budding engineers build rides from the simplest to the most complex!
In a 75-minute workshop, the fun goes on, and so does the complexity of the rides: your students’ imagination will impress you!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Describe how energy changes from one form to another (potential to kinetic energy).
- Describe the features of a motion (for example, direction and speed).
- Identify situations where friction comes into play.
- Understand gravity.
- Describe how a force acts on a body (sets it in motion, changes its motion, stops it).
