Paper Roller Coasters

Thursday was our second creation session with our makers, and they were excited! We presented makers with a question: How could you work with a group to design a roller coaster that amusement parks would want to purchase for their own parks? What is going to be unique about your roller coaster?

Preparation: We purchased a template that assisted students in building columns, beams, supports and more. Using Card Stock (stronger than normal paper), we copied all of the templates off on different colored paper according to the piece it was labeled. A big shout out to Mrs. Hand for helping us prepare the materials! Makers were broken into groups, and each group was given the same materials.

Let the Creations Begin: Makers took charge! They worked together to decide whether they wanted the tallest, widest, loopiest, roundest (etc.) roller coasters.  Given foam board, they set out to divide and conquer. Some worked on building the paper beams, columns, and supports while other shaped the foundation to fit their unique roller coaster. Leadership and teamwork took place without teacher prompting. What a neat experience to watch!

The makers will be working on their paper roller coasters over the next few weeks. We will keep you posted on their progress! :)