02 Marble Madness Lesson Plan

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Junior Gadgeteers Lesson Plan

Marble Madness

Age level: 3 and up

Subjects: Mechanics (kinetic energy)

Duration: 30 minutes

Group Size: 15 students

Setting: Performance Gallery – floor and stage OR Making Space

Key Terms: gravity, kinetic energy

Materials: Per child:

– 1 marble – 1 10”x16” (approx..)

cardboard sheet

– 7 8 ½” x 1” cardboard

planks – 1 bell – 1 piece string

– 1 Dixie cup with bottom removed

– 1 Dixie cup, whole – 1 cardboard “tunnel”

Marble maze model Colorful tape Safety scissors

Overview and Learner Outcomes

Students develop an intuitive, qualitative understanding kinetic energy by building a vertical marble maze.

Students will… Be able to describe kinetic energy as movement. Be able to plan a mechanical design given rules and parameters for the design. Be able to identify an excess or deficiency of kinetic energy in a mechanical

design and compensate for it.

Standards

Science Standards ETS1.A A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as

a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions.

K-PS2-2 Analyze data from tests of an object or tool to determine if it works as intended.

K-PS3-2 Use tools and materials provided to design and build a device that solves a specific problem or a solution to a specific problem.


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Engagement (5 minutes)

Gravity Gives the Marble Energy to Roll 1. Introduce the model vertical model maze (Instructor’s Model) and

demonstrate how it works. Ask what force is doing the “pulling” on the marble (since the marble doesn’t have a motor, etc., something else must be making it move: gravity).

2. Explain that gravity acts like fuel in a car: the higher the marble starts, the more fuel it has to roll down all the ramps to the bottom of the maze.

3. If gravity is the fuel in the car, kinetic energy is its speed. We trade fuel (the energy given to the marble by gravity) for speed. The faster the marble rolls, the more kinetic energy it has and the less fuel we have in the tank.

4. Have the students act out “lots of kinetic energy” (wild and crazy) vs. “a little kinetic energy” (slow and lethargic).

Building the Marble Maze (20 minutes)

Introduction

1. Demonstrate the Instructor’s Model again.

2. Go over the rules: 1) The student must get the marble from the top of the maze to the

bottom of the maze without touching it. If the marble is going too slow, the student must change the maze in some way to compensate.

2) The maze must start with the bottomless cup (to ensure that the starting conditions are always the same) and end with the whole cup. Bells and tunnels may be used in between.

3) The marble must not fly out of the maze. If the marble is going too fast, the student must change the maze in some way to compensate.

Build the Maze

It may be helpful for the students to lean their mazes against the stage while working on them.

Closing (5 minutes)

Close the class by going over gravity and kinetic energy one more time.


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Key Terms

Gravity. A force that pulls objects toward each other. We feel the pull of the

earth on our bodies, but usually don’t feel gravity between two people because people are so small. The earth, however, is huge. The sun and the earth also pull on each other through gravity.

Kinetic energy. The energy of motion. We have to get kinetic energy from somewhere: a motor, a push, gravity, etc. When something is moving quickly, it has a lot of kinetic energy; when it is moving slowly, it has little. (We will not discuss kinetic energy other than in the context of mechanics.)

Documents

02 Marble Madness Lesson Plan