Continuing with our unit on Forces and Motion for 2nd and 3rd grade, today's question was "Does a higher ramp make a marble go faster, slower, or the same speed as a marble starting on a lower ramp?" After a few controlled tests to demonstrate that a higher ramp makes a marble go faster, we got down to the fun part of the lesson. After collecting every paper towel and toilet paper cardboard roll since the school year started, I finally had a purpose for my collection. I challenged the kids to create a "contraption" using a series of ramps and tubes that would guide a marble to hit a paper cup. Without a doubt, there was 100% participation. The kids were so creative and so engaged! Some kids even took the challenge a step farther and created systems in which their cup caught their marble. As they tested their methods, they revamped and added to their designs to make it even better. Some discovered that a wall along the sides helped to guide the marble (we discussed that this was actually employing friction). Others found that they could affect their outcome by changing the amount of incline (they had control over the amount of energy their marble had). After lots of amazing designs, we discussed how they were employing strategies that an engineer would when designing something like a bridge, road. etc. I loved this lesson because they thought they were just having fun, but they were actually learning so much!