Name: Ms.

Easton
Grade: 6
Subject: Science (engineering)
Lesson title: Exploring roller coasters

Indiana State Standards

● 6-8.E.2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to identify how
well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
● 6-8.E.4 Develop a prototype to generate data for repeated investigations and modify a
proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Materials needed
● Roller coaster kits or something equivalent such as tracks and marbles/toy cars

Objectives
● Students will develop multiple prototypes of roller coasters to see which design best
meets the objective (getting through the track, getting through the fastest, having the
most loops etc.)
● Students will evaluate their competing design solutions to identify how well they met the
criteria and how they could improve

Launch
● A discussion of roller coasters/other rides will take place. What do students know about
roller coasters? What do roller coasters have in common? How are they different? Are
roller coasters safe? Does fast always mean fun? As this conversation is occurring, the
teacher will write down students observations on the board to refer to later.
Investigation
● First, students will be put into groups based on how many roller coaster kits there are.
Each group should have at least 2 people
● Students will then be allowed to explore on their own for about 10 minutes having fun
and discovering ways to create a roller coaster.
● After the 10 minute is up, students will be given a scenario (who can have the marble
finish the fastest, who can have the biggest loop etc.) and students will have 20 minutes
to create their prototype. During this time, the teacher will observe each group and ask
them the reasoning behind their coasters.
● Once time is up, the students will walk around the classroom to see other groups'
prototypes and all of the roller coasters will be tested against one another. Does the
coaster work? Does it meet the objective? The winning design will then be analyzed by
the class. Why did this one work the best? Are there any aspects from other coasters
that could improve the design?
These activities can be done over multiple days using different scenarios. That same scenario,
(let's say getting the marble through the track the fastest using ​x​ amount of pieces) can be done
over multiple days as well to keep improving the models, until eventually, students can have a
history of their models and come up with a detailed explanation how they created the “perfect
prototype”.
Wrap up
● Students will be asked to draw their different designs in a science notebook and what
they changed from design to design. For example, if they took out a loop or a turn, they
would state that and why they did that. Then, on their final design, they will write down
why their final design was better than all of their previous prototypes.