On Your Mark, Get Set, Roll

Duration: 120 min (Two 60-minute sessions)

Grade Levels: 4-12

Students will explore how to create triggers by building a device that releases a ball when activated. Their design will need to include a trigger that can be activated from three or more feet away from the device.
Resources

Lesson Plan PDF

Grade Levels: 4-12

Duration: 120 minutes (Two 60-minute sessions)

Concepts/Skills: Energy transfer, stored energy, gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, engineering, release mechanisms

Objectives: 

  • Consider how to use potential energy to build a trigger (release mechanism).
  • Design a ball-release device that is activated by a trigger.
  • Iterate on the design by building a different method for activating the device.

The Tech Challenge

This resource was developed to prepare students for the 2024 Tech Challenge. Each year The Tech Challenge invites teams of students in Grades 4-12 to use the engineering design process to solve a real-world problem.

Learn about this year's Tech Challenge.

Explore More