Roller Coaster Inquiry
- Today you are going to work with a partner to design a roller coaster. You will need to go to Coaster Creator. Please make sure to keep this page open to be able to follow the instructions.
- Since you are working with a partner you need to decide which of you is going to be a recorder and which one will be a builder. The recorder is in charge of talking about the questions with your partner and writing the answers (questions will be provided toward the bottom of the page) and the builder is in charge of everything on the computer and creating the roller coaster. While you each have a specific role you need to make sure you are working together.
- You will likely need to spend a little time exploring how the program works before you will be able to begin building. You need to create a roller coaster that fulfills the criteria for the roller coaster that we will be building at the end of our unit that is fun and safe. Each time you create a coaster you need to draw it on your paper and describe if it was successful or not and why.
- Once you are able to create a successful roller coaster you need to explain what changes you made and why.
- If you are able to create a successful roller coaster and other groups are still working, you need to create another one that is different than the one you created but still fulfills the criteria. Make sure to write the same things down this time too.
- Once all groups have created a successful roller coaster you need to spend a few minutes answering the following questions with your partner. Make sure to write your answers on the paper that you started earlier.
- After you built a roller coaster that succeeded, what did you notice mattered a lot in the design? How many loops? How big were the loops? How many hills? How steep were the hills?
- What was the highest speed of your coaster?
- What was the greatest height of your coaster?
- What different types of energy are present when the roller coaster moves?
- How do the energies change as the coaster moves through the track? Do they relate to each other?
- What do you want to still learn about roller coasters?
- What will you make sure to include in your roller coaster?
- What did you learn NOT to include in your roller coaster?
- What did you learn about energy today?