The Marble Challenge

I found this challenge very interesting.  The challenge is designed to get the students to think of different ways to use varying materials as a ramp or guide to allow a marble to reach from the top to the bottom of the run within a set amount of time.  As the students learn about friction they can apply their knowledge to the track.  They can play around with different textured runs and change the angles of the chutes to slow or speed up the decent of the marble.

For the younger students you can also make a marble maze on a paper plate, the older the students the more intricate they can make the maze, the run, or even the roller coaster.

This reminds me of the game "Mouse Trap."  After they have designed their marble run you can then get them to think of how to build a better mouse trap.

Marble Challenge