Marvellous Marble Ramps

 For our Gizmos and Gadgets Challenge Centre, I had the students learn about the law of gravity by designing and creating their own marble ramps.  Criteria:  use boxes, cards, toilet paper rolls to create their structures, where by a marble had to travel down the ramp.

 First, the students had to create a blueprint or design of their structure.

 Then, they started designing their contraptions...

 The students took off:  I had them use tape and scissors, but I was there to cut out any major holes or pieces of cardboard using an exacto knife.  The discussions and ideas were fantastic...I heard many wonderful discussions about how they could get the marble down the ramp in an original manner.

 The students who worked on this design above, incorporated a bell that the marble would hit as it passed down the ramp.

 Inside and outside design

 I appreciated the originality of each design.   I thought it was fascinating how they embraced this project, using their problem solving skills to figure out how to best design the marble ramp.