On Friday, students in the middle school architecture elective began the marble run challenge, an engineering and architectural problem solving exercise. “It’s a project that many do in their first year of college in an architecture course, so it’s going to be a real challenge,” said teacher Cathy Withrington just before students began the project. Working collaboratively in teams, students are challenged to think creatively to create a marble run that takes at least 15 seconds to drop and does not exceed 48” tall—a tall task that our students have been excited to tackle! The first class session saw students experimenting with different materials, everything from paper cups to egg crates to other pieces of junk. Next class session, the groups will present their marble run to the class, and the team with the longest drop will win a prize!

 

“I want my students to think analytically, test and refine solutions, and learn about structures in engineering,” adds Ms. Withrington. “It’s a good problem solving and design challenge for these students.” MORE PHOTOS