Students in an eighth-grade engineering class at Pleasantville Middle School constructed roller coasters using marbles, paper, popsicle sticks, tape and their critical-thinking skills.
The young engineers were tasked to work in pairs to imagine, design and build a roller coaster connected to an amusement park that meet design specifications. There were birthday-, candy- and sea-themed coasters.
Engineer teacher Leanne Parker said that the students were tasked with creating coasters with one loop and two hills while applying core physics principles such as potential and kinetic energy, friction and gravity.
More in our schools: South Orangetown Middle School students in Blauvelt get head start at learning about money management.
“Students are working on teamwork, collaboration. There’s going to be times where they often might disagree on something. So, I always encourage them [to] try one idea, try the other, and then kind of decide which one works best,” said Parker.
Eighth-grader Cristhian Garcia problem-solved along the way as he constructed the ride with his partner.
“If you keep on trying, they’ll come out correctly eventually,” he said.
A school year is 180 days, with no two days and no two schools exactly alike. The students differ, the teachers differ, school cultures differ. Here, our photographers find what makes our school days anything but ordinary, the people and programs and events that make a difference, school day in and school day out.
Check back to lohud.com for our lohud in our schools feature each Monday.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Pleasantville class uses physics concepts in roller coaster project
Reporting by Tania Savayan, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
