Roller Coaster

^{Roller Coaster Grant Proposal}

Abstract:  High school physics starts with the laws of motion.  This area covers about ten weeks of instruction and begins early in the school year and includes widely divergent concepts that include  velocity, acceleration, weight, friction, Newton’s 2^nd Law (F=ma), potential energy, kinetic energy, conservation of energy, momentum, and Newton’s 3^rd Law (inertia).

A roller coaster project provides a good platform to bring all of these concepts together.  The material can be covered in the normal manner but with all of the illustrative examples involving roller coasters.  In addition, the students can be assigned to build a small scale roller coaster either physically or with a software model in order to give them hands on experience with the application of the laws of motion.

Our proposal is to assign a physical model to be built to the specifications of  Paramount Great America Physics Day competition.  They have a well defined project format for a physically small model that is convenient for storage and transport.  A school wide competition will be held among the schools three physics classes and one team would be selected to travel to California for the Physics Day competition.

Support is required for construction materials and for travel expenses for the winning team.  The materials for the roller coasters are basic and much of it can be built with standard art supplies.  However, the tracks and cars require precision and must be purchased from a building supply company.  We estimate a cost of $100 per project and eighteen projects for the three classes or $1800 plus $800 to go toward travel expenses for the winning team to go to California for the Paramount Great America Physics Day competition.

Rationale:   Imagine you are in a roller coaster just starting down the highest, very steep hill.  As you begin the decent, you release a tennis ball that you brought with you.  As you fall, you are almost weightless, and you watch the tennis ball magically float in front of you as it slowly moves toward the back and floor of the car. 

High school Physics is often viewed as a disconnected jumble of complex ideas.  Students can be intimidated and overwhelmed with the wide range of concepts that need to be covered to meet the Texas TEKS.  A bad experience in high school physics can cause students to back away from technical majors in college.   This problem causes American high tech companies to have to rely on graduates from non-US universities in order to meet their engineering staffing requirements.  

The laws of motion are a good example of the complexity of physics concepts.   Many students come into physics thinking that heavier objects will fall faster than lighter objects.  They cannot connect the speed that a ball will develop rolling down a ramp with the potential energy that the ball had at the top of the ramp.  A roller coaster integrates virtually all of the laws of motion into a cohesive system that can be understood as a single model.

Imagine the enthusiasm and confidence that come from the ability to explain the floating tennis ball to your friends.  The completion of a successful model creates will foster an appreciation for the application of technical concepts.   Students will be more likely to pursue technical degrees in college. 

We will be tracking seniors’ college plans in the future as described in the Description section. 

Description:  Students will build a model roller coaster that will  be fit into a space just 75cm long x 75 cm wide x 100 cm high.  It will be a gravity only model – no motors or magnets.   The “cars” will be marbles or ball bearings and the tracks will be plastic tubes that have been cut so that they are open on the top so that the ball can fall off if the design is faulty.  The degree of “open-ness” of the track is a factor in the grading.

            The project will start during the first six-week grading period and will conclude in the third six-week period.  One class period per week will be used for roller coaster design and construction.  It is expected that the students will supplement this with additional time outside of class, especially toward the end of the project.

 The models with be judged based on the Paramount criteria: Technical features – loops, hills, workmanship, and innovation, Theme – creativity and marketability, and perceived rider enjoyment.  The student teams will also be graded on their technical explanation of the ride using the laws of motion.  For example, how the potential energy at the beginning of the ride is calculated and how it translates into velocity and gravitational forces that contribute so much to the excitement of the ride.

            The local press will be invited to the competition.  It is expected that the projects will generate enough excitement to make the newspaper and maybe the evening news.  The grand prize trip to California for the winning team will surely attract attention.

We will be comparing the statistics for our graduating seniors’ college major plans with data from the past.  We expect to see more students selecting technical majors and we plan to correlate these choices with various aspects of their high school curriculum, including the physics roller coaster project participation.  Although it will take several years for this data to be meaningful, we may get some idea from the first year’s data.

Calendar:  This is a six week project that will start in October of the school year.  A detailed calendar of the day by day lessons including the weekly lab period for design and construction days is attached.

            At the end of the six weeks, the unit tests will be administered.  The students’ performance on this test will be compared with previous classes.

            The eleventh graders in the physics classes will take the TEKS test at the end of the year.  We will compare their performance with the other Texas students and past students from our school.  We may be able to get some idea of the effectiveness of the roller coaster project, but nothing real definitive.

The California Physics day is in May.   There is also one in Baltimore in April.  We are looking for one earlier in the year that will be more timely with the physics curriculum. 

Budget:  The students will be allotted $100 per team.  They will be reimbursed for actual expenses and receipts will be required.  Here is an estimate for each team, although they may choose other supplies.

We plan for three classes of 24 students each and four person teams for 6 teams per class and a total of 18 teams.  We expect to pay $600 per person for the trip to California for the winning team.  We have other sponsors for some of the travel, but need an additional $700 for food and ground transportation.

Materials:  $100 x 18 teams = $1800

Travel expenses:                      $700

Total:                                     $2500

Evaluation Plan: 

Classroom student assessment:  Our main evaluation will be the end of unit test.  We will compare results among the three classes and with previous years.  We will include an evaluation of the level of participation and enthusiasm that the roller coaster project generated with the students.  We will also ask for their assessment and recommendations for improvements.

Student Survey:  We will administer a short survey of the physics students at the beginning of the school year to ascertain what percentage of them plan to pursue technical degrees in college:  Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Math, Biology, Pre-Med, or Nursing.  After the roller coaster project, we will administer the survey a second time and compare the results with the first survey.  With a sample size of 72 students we should be able to get results with a high confidence level.

Physics enrollment for next year:  We can compare next year’s enrollment with past years to see if we are attracting any more students.  Anecdotally, we may get some evidence of attraction from the roller coaster project with this evaluation.

TEKS - The eleventh graders in the physics classes will take the TEKS test at the end of the year.  We will compare their performance with the other Texas students and past students from our school.  We may be able to get some idea of the effectiveness of the roller coaster project, but nothing real definitive.

Final Report: We will provide the results of the classroom evaluation and student surveys along with a report on the competition results in November.  We would welcome any visitors to the competition and to any of the regular class work as well.

Budget:  The students will be allotted $100 per team.  They will be reimbursed for actual expenses and receipts will be required.  Here is an estimate for each team, although they may choose other supplies.

We plan for three classes of 24 students each and four person teams for 6 teams per class and a total of 18 teams.  We expect to pay $600 per person for the trip to California for the winning team.  We have other sponsors for some of the travel, but need an additional $700 for food and ground transportation.

Materials:  $100 x 18 teams = $1800

Travel expenses:                      $700

Total:                                     $2500

Evaluation Plan: 

Classroom student assessment:  Our main evaluation will be the end of unit test.  We will compare results among the three classes and with previous years.  We will include an evaluation of the level of participation and enthusiasm that the roller coaster project generated with the students.  We will also ask for their assessment and recommendations for improvements.

Student Survey:  We will administer a short survey of the physics students at the beginning of the school year to ascertain what percentage of them plan to pursue technical degrees in college:  Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Math, Biology, Pre-Med, or Nursing.  After the roller coaster project, we will administer the survey a second time and compare the results with the first survey.  With a sample size of 72 students we should be able to get results with a high confidence level.

Physics enrollment for next year:  We can compare next year’s enrollment with past years to see if we are attracting any more students.  Anecdotally, we may get some evidence of attraction from the roller coaster project with this evaluation.

TEKS - The eleventh graders in the physics classes will take the TEKS test at the end of the year.  We will compare their performance with the other Texas students and past students from our school.  We may be able to get some idea of the effectiveness of the roller coaster project, but nothing real definitive.

Final Report: We will provide the results of the classroom evaluation and student surveys along with a report on the competition results in November.  We would welcome any visitors to the competition and to any of the regular class work as well.