Teams of high school students learn about energy and energy transformation, then use their knowledge to design and build a paper model of the most fun and exciting roller coaster they can imagine.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Paper Roller Coasters

Tags: CCSS, Class Activities, forces, Grades 9-12, Gravity, kinetic energy, Lesson Plan, Mathematics, motion, Newton's Laws, NGSS, Physical Science, potential energy, roller coaster, vectors, velocity

In this activity, late-elementary school students work in small groups to build a roller coaster with at least one loop and one jump, demonstrating how potential energy transforms into kinetic energy. Students observe the relationship of height to potential energy and the resulting kinetic energy.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Class Activity: Build a Roller Coaster

Tags: Class Activities, forces and motion, friction, Grades 3-6, Grades K-5, kinetic energy, Mechanical engineering, roller coaster