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Physical Science

Roller Coaster Physics

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Brenda Hornaday Brenda Hornaday 770 Points

I was wondering if anyone has done much in the area of working with roller coasters in physics. I am particularly interested in this more complicated roller coasters by K-Nex for my third grade gifted students. WalMart and Lakeshore have carried more simple roller coasters to work on this process.
Patricia Rourke Patricia Rourke 45925 Points

Hi Brenda, Building and studying the motions of roller coasters are such great ways to apply the NGSS Engineering standards in all grade levels. Your hands-on approach sounds like you offer a solid foundation for elementary students to apply themselves to project based learning. This interactive site sponsored by Annenberg has been available to teachers for a long time and is useful at many different cognitive levels. You might consider or another interactive site similar to it as an adjunct to your students learning tools. Check it out. http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster.html

Patricia Rourke Patricia Rourke 45925 Points

Phet in Colorado also has some simulations and information on roller coaster physics that you might find useful; it also may be adapted to multiple learning levels. http://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/3027 Including energy transformations and changes between potential and kinetic energy is also a solid ancillary to building and designing coasters. This energy skate park simulation is interesting: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park-basics ~patty
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