Science, technology, engineering and math skills were in full force
during a STEM activity for fourth-graders at Wading River School as part
of the district’s Mystery Science program, an innovative approach to
learning that is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards.
The students built a bumper roller coaster with hills to examine how
height affects the energy produced by a roller coaster and explored what
occurs when the second hill of a coaster is higher than the first. They
released a marble at different points on the track to get both a target
marble and the starting marble in a cup at the end of the track.
The experiment helped the students to build a deeper understanding of
energy and the energy transfer that happens when two objects collide.
Their hands-on activity brought into focus engineering concepts and how
testing their hypotheses form their results.