Paper Rollercoasters

By adding this component, students begin to understand how challenging it is to produce a large structure. It also helps them practice financial literacy by weighing the cost-effectiveness of using different components in their design. 

Note: Based on the time that is given to complete this project, the costs for materials should vary. Personally, based on grading my first group that finished, I "discounted" the materials to ensure that the scores credited project's appropriately.

One last thing, before I share the process and rubric is that students are going to fail in this project. They will face many challenges and might need a 'push' to keep going. It is important to relay to students that the best learning happens during this process. In the case that a student was working consistently hard and still failed to meet the requirements, I ensured that so long as they reflected on the process they would not fail. I also let my students know that if they wanted to continue after the allotted class time to improve their grade, they were more than free to do so. These policies can be varied by teacher, but it is what I put in place to ensure there was a safety net for those who failed to meet requirements.

The Process

Materials

We start the project by getting a cardboard base and cut out pieces of cardstock. I used a combination of two sources to print the cutouts:

Instructables - I used the PDF from this website for loops, hills, turns, and small beams.

-The other template was taken down, however, this website has tutorials on how to actually make everything by hand.

You will also need a marble for each group and tape or a hot glue gun.

Planning and Design

The first step is to actually design and plan the rollercoaster. When I personally did the project, my partner and I were focused on getting as many bonus point with high speed at the top, and then making the track as flat as possible closer towards the bottom. However, there are many approaches to be successful in this project. I had students who kept it as flat as possible starting from a high point, students who had less height, but multiple jumps and corkscrews, and students who started repurposing different materials to keep costs down.

I encouraged my students to draw a general design and supporting structure, but to remain flexible. It is very common for students to underestimate how quickly the marble is going to roll down.

Supporting Structure

Once there is a general plan, we build the supporting structures. Again, there are so many approaches to this. My rollercoaster, had four main columns, two of which went higher than the rest, with beams supporting in between. This allowed us to gain a lot of potential energy at the beginning of the track and a lot of space to work with towards the bottom. 

To actually make the columns and beams, we take half a piece of cardstock (cut lengthwise) and fold it in to 5 equal section lengthwise (you should always crease the folds whenever making materials). Then simply fold it into a rectangular box. To place these columns on the cardboard base, make sure you cut about 1-1.5 inches on the four creases and then fold them outwards. This will create flaps that you can use to tape the first columns down to the base.

Building the Track

There are multiple pieces to build the track: straight track, turns, loops, funnels, and ramps. When using a template all you have to do is cut the solid lines, and fold the dotted lines. It is recommended to start from the bottom and work upwards, however, I have personally never done so and neither have my students. I think that it could be very impactful to do so, because you can just stop working once you meet the criteria. However, it is challenging to work backwards so I left it up to the students to decide.

Common Challenges

The entire point of learning through making is actually gaining skills in problem solving and understanding concept by applying them. Some of the common challenges in this project were, the ball getting stuck, flying off track, going too fast, or not fast enough to make it. To solve these problems may seem simple, but it is all rooted deeply in physical science. With some guiding prompts throughout the duration of the project, students would be able to make those connections for themselves.

Reflection

I have loved this project ever since my first time completing it in high school. It really enforces you to think, not only about how to produce something functional, but also how to do so in minimalistic way. It is very easy for us to build something without restraint, but in doing so, we may have a tendency to be wasteful. As someone who always takes the long path to success, this really forces you to think of multiple approaches and choose the best one.

From what I noticed from my students, partaking in this project makes you fathom how engineers build these huge structures without errors. Common questions I heard from students were: What if it does not work when they test it? How do they know it will work? What happens if something does not work? By putting us in the shoes of these engineers, we really become curious and appreciate how amazing it is to design and create these extraordinary rides.