Vertical Marble Run (VMR)

thingiverse

Disclaimer: No Red-eyed tree frogs named Otis were harmed in the making of this marble run. The power of this concept lies in its timing. If you print a few pieces in advance, you can spend a day or two exploring on a bulletin board or blackboard. Spend a week and change the objective each day (timing, speed, accuracy, collaboration...). Or just 'run' with it and spend two months and counting designing custom pieces and perfecting the design. A long term, multidisciplinary collaborative project has been created, where students experience the engineering design process from start to finish. The OVERWHELMING enthusiasm from the students has driven this project's development and creation. There might just be an uprising (thumbtacks and marbles popping up everywhere) due to its impact. This project is being done by fifth-graders but has been followed closely by twelfth-grade engineering students, who have provided valuable feedback and encouragement. Their support should be recognized for helping shape the rapid design of this system. Students should have some previous 3D modeling experience before starting this project. They did the 'chess piece challenge' earlier in the year using Phet simulations to introduce them to conservation of energy and balancing torques. Various mini challenges and assignments were inserted between phases to allow time for printing. Printing time is immense, so look up 'VMR rapid deployment' system to use cheap PVC pipes. Materials needed include patience, a large bulletin board or magnetic surface, a 3D printer (Flashforge), incredibly motivated students, supportive faculty who will tolerate marbles and thumbtacks popping up all over the building, thumbtacks or pushpins, marbles, and multiple storage containers. The results speak for themselves: "Having a 3D printer in school has made learning science more engaging. Instead of just doing worksheets all period, we get to use the 3D printer and print objects that we have created on either OpenSCAD or Tinkercad and incorporate them in whatever we are learning or projects." Hands-on projects like this marble run are considered more effective than pad & paper learning when it comes to studying physical science. Students learn as they do something, see the results, may fail, but also improve their learning skills and be ready for real-world challenges. The marble run project has been extremely fun to build, with students learning about speed and accuracy while using 3D modeling and coding on buttons. It's a great way to introduce them to simple machines and future careers in technology.