Teacher's Information

Purpose
The purpose of this webquest is to provide an activity in which students will take basic physics knowledge and apply that knowledge into the creation and design of an original roller coaster.

Grade Level
This webquest is appropriate for students in grades 4, 5, and 6. (I teach 6th grade.)

Prior Knowledge
Before participating in this webquest, students need to know the basic concepts of:
1. Newton's Laws of Motion as they apply to roller coasters
2. mass as it applies to roller coasters
3. inertia as it applies to roller coasters
4. friction as it applies to roller coasters
5. speed as it applies to roller coasters
6. velocity as it applies to roller coasters
7. acceleration as it applies to roller coasters
8. centripetal force as it applies to roller coasters
9. potential energy as it applies to roller coasters
10. kinetic energy as it applies to roller coasters
11. g forces as they apply to roller coasters

Some background in types and styles of roller coasters is also helpful.

Students will not be asked to do any mathematical calculations in this webquest. The roller coaster designs are not expected to be mathematically accurate. Students should demonstrate a basic understanding of roller coaster design, such as, the first hill must be the highest hill because it must be able to provide enough energy for the train to complete the entire course of the coaster. Loops need to be tear-drop shaped instead of a perfect circle because of the g forces that act upon the riders' bodies. The teacher can specify to the students what principles he/she expects to see demonstrated in the coaster drawing. These principles should mirror the information covered in the class prior to this project.

Webquest Skills and Objectives
Throughout this webquest, the students will:
1. Use websites to gather information.
2. Record information on a chart.
3. Take gathered information and compare and contrast it.
4. Take gathered information and draw conclusions.
5. Make predictions about the success of a new roller coaster based upon information gathered and analyzed.
6. Take previously learned knowledge and apply it to roller coaster building simulations on the Internet.
7. Take previously learned knowledge and use it to create a basic roller coaster design on paper.
8. Use personal experiences to reate a basic roller coaster design on paper.
9. Describe a basic roller coaster design in writing.
10. Draw a picture of a basic roller coaster design.

Curriculum Objectives
This webquest helps me meet the following objectives from my school curriculum:
1. Explain Newton's laws of motion.
2. Identify or describe the apparent forces or impacts people can feel as a result of a change in an object's motion.
3. Explain why people in a rapidly descending elevator will feel like they are floating.
4. State that things move only when something moves them and that they continue to move unless something stops them.
5. Explain that the harder something is pushed, the faster it goes.
6. Explain that the more massive something is, the harder it is to move.
7. Investigate why things move and propose how they may have been stopped.

State Proficiency Testing Outcomes
This webquest helps me meet the following outcome from 6th grade proficiency testing in our state:
#7: Predict the influence of the motion of some objects on other objects.