Fun With Physics At The Roller Coaster Riot How do you get 135
third, fourth and fifth graders to learn and apply Sir Isaac
Newton’s laws of motion? Have them design and build paper roller
coasters. The floor of the Juneau Arts and Culture Center is a
mess of construction paper, tape and elaborate design drawings.
There are no rules at the Roller Coaster Riot. Students are
given kits that include various tracks, loop-de-loops, funnels
and corkscrews, and told to use their imaginations to create a
roller coaster that gets a marble from point A to point B.
“First we got 30 minutes to plan, and then we went over there to
that table and got the paper, some scissors, and some tape,”
says nine-year-old Brianna McKeel. She’s standing next to her
group’s creation, “The Dolphin,” so named because the twin
starting tracks at the top resemble a dolphin tail. McKeel goes
to Riverbend Elementary School, but for this project she’s
working with students from other schools around the Capital
City. As part of the Juneau Schoo