Paper Roller Coaster

ENGINEERING TASK

Inspired by Curious George Roller Coaster by H. A. Rey

MATERIALS IN KITS

• Multiple strips of cardstock
• Scissors
• Tape
• 2 Marbles
• 5 Cardboard tubes

READ & TALK

Read the book, Curious George Roller Coaster.

Curious George wants to ride a roller coaster with his friends. But he is not tall enough! He tried different ways to grow taller, but they did not work. How was his problem solved? What are other ways Curious George (or others) could have solved the problem of not being able to ride the roller coaster?

ENGINEERING TASK

Your engineering task is to design a new roller coaster that George and his friends could ride. You will build a prototype suitable for a marble to travel from the start to the finish.

 

RESEARCH

Did you know that most roller coasters have a theme—Space Mountain and the Incredible Hulk are two examples.

Explore this site that has the WORLD’S best roller coasters.

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/awesome-8/article/roller-coasters

What did you notice? Which one was your favorite? Why? My favorite was ___ because ____.

PLAN

Let’s think through the following for your design. I will take notes for you so you can focus on thinking like an engineer.

1. What is the theme of your roller coaster? What artistic elements might you add?
2. How tall? How long?
3. How many turns and/or curves, if any? Where should they be in your design?
4. How will you support the structure?

PLAN

Now that we have some general design features, draw a sketch of your roller coaster.

CREATE

CREATE TRACKS

CREATE TRACKS

CREATE TRACKS
FOLDING TECHNIQUE

CREATE TRACKS
FOLDING TECHNIQUE

CREATE TRACKS

CREATE SUPPORTS

CREATE SUPPORTS

CREATE SUPPORTS

TEST & IMPROVE

PAUSE! Remember the goal is for the marble to travel from the top to the bottom. What you have noticed? What is working well? What is not working so well?

What might you do about it? What changes can you make? What might George say about your roller coaster?

 

COMMUNICATE

Imagine you are presenting to a local amusement park, how will you grab their attention and build excitement about your roller coaster?

1. Talk about your theme and what makes it unique. What features did you include for George to be able to ride?
2. Talk about changes you made when the marble did not travel from the beginning to the end.
3. Show how the roller coaster works.
4. End with something that will make you and your prototype unforgettable.

 

FUN FACTS

The first roller coaster in America opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York on June 16, 1884. It traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

Kingda Ka is one of the world’s tallest (456 feet) and fastest (128 miles per hour) roller coasters. Yet, it may be one of the shortest at 50.6 seconds.

The longest roller coaster is the Steel Dragon 2000 at 8,000 feet long. The duration of the ride is 4:00 minutes.

SHARE THE FUN AND PASS IT ON!

Thank you for participating.

When you are done with this project, gift the book and the directions to your friend to make the idea of engineering roll like a marble traveling on a roller coaster..

 

ADDITIONAL EXPLORATION

Engineers design and work on a team to build theme park rides and attractions at Walt Disney World. If you want to learn more, check out these videos…

…and ask a few questions. What was the coolest thing you learned? How would you explain a theme park engineer to one of your friends? Would you want to be an engineer that designs roller coasters? Why?

CREATE – OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

• Show me where this track is in your sketch.
• It seems we need a taller support. What technique should we use to stack supports on top of one another? How can we make it stable?
• What if we ______ (e.g., added another track here)?
• I like the way you _____ (e.g., folded the track into three strips or thirds). Can you teach me?
• Can I show you how to _______ (e.g., cut the paper)?