What

Museum Staff-led

When

Terms 1 to 4, Monday to Friday

Duration

45 minutes in the STEM Lab

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Curriculum links & Accessibility

Year level

Years 3 to 10

Minmum student numbers

Minimum 15 students

Maximum student numbers

Maximum 28 students

Cost

$11 per student + education service fee

Booking information

Bookings 13 11 02

School visit information

This STEM workshop might be the most fun you can have with physics! Students design a marble rollercoaster in this hands-on, skills-based workshop that’s great for a wide age and ability range.

Learning Facilitators will cater the language used based on the level of the group. Younger students will explore how rollercoasters move in terms of speed and hills, while older students will be introduced to conservation of energy in terms of gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.

Students will experience

• Designing rollercoasters, working in groups and using limited resources
• Scaffolded STEM design challenges that help them exercise their creativity, resilience and design thinking.
• Fun opportunities to share and celebrate their designs with their peers

Students will learn

• How rollercoasters work and what makes them move
• The physics of potential energy and kinetic energy
• How forces like gravity and centripetal force control the movements of a rollercoaster
• The design process, including testing and iterating on a design
• Teamwork and collaboration skills

Victorian Curriculum links

Science: Foundation to Level 2

Physical sciences

pushes and pulls are forces that can change an object’s movement or shape and can be represented in terms of strength and direction
VC2S2U11

Science: Levels 3 and 4

Physical sciences

forces, including frictional, gravitational, electrostatic and magnetic, can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact or from a distance and affect the motion (speed and direction) of objects
VC2S4U10

Design and Technologies: Levels 3 and 4

Creating designed solutions

select and use materials, components, tools and techniques to safely make designed solutions
VC2TDE4D03

Design and Technologies: Levels 5 and 6

Creating designed solutions

select, explain and use suitable materials, components, tools and techniques to safely make designed solutions
VC2TDE6D03

Science: Levels 7 and 8

Physical sciences

energy exists in different forms, including thermal, chemical, gravitational and elastic, and may be classified as kinetic or potential; energy transfers (conduction, convection and radiation) and transformations occur in simple systems and can be analysed in terms of energy efficiency
VC2S8U15

Design and Technologies: Levels 7 and 8

Creating designed solutions

select, justify and use suitable tools, materials, processes and components to safely make designed solutions
VC2TDE8D03

Science: Levels 9 and 10

the Law of Conservation of Energy can be analysed in systems, including Earth systems, by assessing the efficiency of energy inputs, outputs, transfers and transformations
VC2S10U15

Newton’s laws of motion can be used to quantitatively analyse the relationship between force, mass and acceleration of objects
VC2S10U17

Design and Technologies: Levels 9 and 10

select, justify, test and use suitable technologies, including processes, and skills, and apply safety procedures to safely make designed solutions
VC2TDE10D03