Classroom activity 1 - roller coaster - BAE Systems · Introduction to Roller Coaster Classroom Activity for Ambassadors Introduction This is an exciting and engaging activity to

BAE Systems Education Programme - www.baesystems.com/education, Prepared by CragRats Ltd. Place of registration – England; Company number - 296 3799; CragRats Mill, Dunford Road, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire HD9 2AR

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Introduction to Roller Coaster Classroom Activity for Ambassadors

Introduction This is an exciting and engaging activity to run within a school. If you are new to Ambassador activity then outlined below is a simple activity that needs very little preparation, is excellent at bringing to life the principles of engineering and is great fun to do. The handouts are found at the end of this document. Time needed: • 90 minutes Preparation

Prior to the event ensure you have the correct materials and prizes. Also make sure you have printed out enough hand-outs for the groups. Make sure you have double-checked the event with the school and that there will be a teacher present. Consider getting the head to present the winning prize. Hints and Tips Regularly updated hints and tips available in the Ambassador’s secure area of the Education Programme website www.baesystems.com/education on topics such as: • How to protect yourself • How to manage the classroom • Communications • Being inclusive • Keeping their interest • Time Management • Discipline


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After completing this activity within a school there are also other ways you might like to support your local schools: • Attend Education Programme Roadshow and help

facilitate and judge the workshop activities • Support and encourage school applications to the

Schools Challenge • Mentoring & work experience encouragement and

support • Lesson support – can utilise the case studies, library of

teaching materials on the website, heritage virtual museums

• Organise site tours and day visits • Activities using health and safety / risk assessments • Open evenings – stands • Enterprise week / Science and Technology week / engineering days • Initiate / support engineering clubs • Set Points / science days • Careers advice and guidance • Continuously promote the websites and resources to students and craft • teachers when in the schools Don’t forget to keep re-visiting the website to explore new resources and exciting things to promote when in schools: www.baesystems.com/education

Phone: The Customer Support Team - 01772 677277

E-mail: [email protected]

Thank you for your valuable time and for becoming an Ambassador of BAE Systems’ Education Programme!


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Your activity guide: Personal introduction: In the first instance, introduce yourself! Our experience has proven that young people are in awe of the work that you do… You are the Ambassador for BAE Systems – share your passion for your job with the students, so make sure you cover the following… • Name: • Job title: • Site that you work on: • A little bit about the work you do: Suggested discussion outline: So now it’s time to get you thinking and acting like an Engineer. We’re going to split you up into groups and set you a task that you have to complete within the given time frame. And I’ve been told you’re some of the most imaginative, practical and creative students in the school, so I’ve got high expectations about what your going to come up with. There’s a very simple process involved in most Engineering applications (go to the list):

• Identifying the need – what is the challenge • What are the requirements/specifications • What materials/time frame/costs • Design possible solutions • Select a design and build a prototype • Test the design • Modify if necessary • Finalise design • Build the product

When we put you in teams we’ll give you a sheet with instructions and guidelines – and also we’ve put down our marking criteria as well – because the team that come up with the best model and design will win a mystery prize! But just before we get you started first, let me tell you what materials you’re going to be given:

• 20 Sheets of newspaper

• 1 roll of sellotape • 1 marble


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Can anyone guess what we’re going to ask you to build?

Well – we’re going to ask you to construct a structure that works a bit like a roller coaster. Your roller coaster is going to be a marble, and you’re going to have to build a series of tracks that the marble can roll down – you place the marble on the top and it rolls, falls, whatever to the bottom. The marble that takes the longest to get to the bottom will get highest marks for that section. We’ll also give out marks for how ingenious your design is, and also marks for the quality of your construction, is it safe, can it be used again and again for example. And to make things even more complicated for you, you’ve got to build your model on the floor and it must all fit within a square metre that we can chalk on the floor, so none of your construction is allowed to go outside the chalk marks (show mousetrap game as an example). So let’s look at the two materials you’ll be using to make your model.

Do you think you’ll be able to do something with only sellotape and newspaper? (Get feedback from the pupils).

Thanks for those ideas. Let’s look a bit more closely first at our newspaper (bring out the following:)

• It’s flimsy • You can tear it easily • It’s light • You can fold it in half up to seven times • It burns • It gets soggy when wet • You can blow it away • It tears if you put a heavy weight in the middle of it • You can cut it • If you fold it at 90 degrees it will stand on end • You can corrugate it (make a fan) • You can roll it into a tube, make a cone etc (what new characteristics

does it take in these forms?) • It falls over, if you try to put a weight on top of a rolled cylinder (it needs

support) • If you make a tripod or quadruped and link\brace the uprights it

becomes stable Let’s look at what properties sellotape has. (Do similar process). Let’s look at how we can use both materials together. (Invite comments from students).


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So now you’re ready for the challenge…….

You have 30 minutes to build your own marble roller coaster.

Let’s put you into teams (groups of four\five each given a worksheet, take the pupils through the sheet. Give out materials to each team, after they have had time to fill out the sheet and have drawn their design.)

Travel round each team in turn asking questions to check understanding, develop ideas and introduce aspects of design and testing that the students may not have thought of.

Stick to the 30 minute time scale then: Get each team to name and introduce their model then check (using a stopwatch) how long the marble takes to descend.

Judge the models using the scoring system and then announce the winner at the end of session.

Present the prize and certificate to the wining team.


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Conclusion: Everything around us has been designed, tested and produced through Engineering processes. During the workshops you’ve been doing exactly the same kind of activity. Engineering can obviously be a great deal of fun. Have you enjoyed yourselves? Remind the pupils to look at the exciting website and all the different additional websites (found by navigating to Our Sites): www.baesystems.com/education

• Careers and work experience reminder • Ambassador contacts and local information sheets to take away • Competition for school – encourage them and provide support in doing the

School’s Challenge • Thank you and wrap up!


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Roller Coaster

Workshop Challenge

Your Team Name:

Name of Team Members:

Your Task

To build a structure using 20 sheets of newspaper and 1 roll of sellotape that

will allow a marble to roll from the top to the bottom in the longest possible

time. The structure must be constructed entirely within a 1 metre square and

fixed to the floor (and nowhere else).

Marks

Points will be awarded for:

• Length of time it takes the marble to

descend from the top of the structure to the bottom – 10 points

• Design/creativity of solution – 10 points

• Quality of construction/robustness – 10 points

Your Design

Use the reverse of this sheet to sketch down your ideas/designs.


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Helpful Hints

• Don’t rush into building straight away – you’ve only

got 20 sheets of paper – don’t waste them

• Think about how you can make the paper

strong/stable

• Think about how the marble can be guided by the newspaper

• Don’t spend too much time talking

• Don’t start building until you’ve got a clear design

• Experiment with materials/ideas

• Don’t expect other people to give you ideas – it’s your ideas we’re

after!

• BE CAREFUL! If you build a tall tower – don’t stand

on chairs or use other props to help you reach.

BE SAFE.

Remember….. have fun!!!……

Documents

Classroom activity 1 - roller coaster - BAE Systems · Introduction to Roller Coaster Classroom Activity for Ambassadors Introduction This is an exciting and engaging activity to