STEM Force and Motion Unit: Roller Coasters

Roller Coaster Rally: A STEM Integrated Unit

What is more exciting than roller coasters?! Not much! Your students will be thrilled to begin this coaster themed STEM unit!

While teaching your students about force, motion, engineering design, graphing, analyzing data and more, your students will be working in “Design Teams” to complete 10 exciting and educational phases of the Roller Coaster Rally (See preview for a detailed look at the phases.)

Embedded in the unit, I’ve included mini-lessons on math and science concepts relevant to the unit. I’ve also included web resources to help support student learning of the math and science concepts being taught. There are several opportunities for assessment throughout the unit and a "Student Score Sheet" to collect and calculate each student's final score for the unit.

Included in this extensive 63 page unit:
•Unit Overview
•Suggested Lesson Plans (4 pages)
•Statistics, data, and graphing information posters:
• Mean, Median, Mode, Range, Conclusion, Bar Graph, Line Graph, Pie Graph, Line Plot, Histogram, Stem and Leaf Plot
•Energy and Motion Information Posters:
• Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, inertia, gravity, friction, force, speed
•“Roller Coaster Rally” student project booklet (16 pages)
•Roller Coaster Rally Design Awards
•Roller Coaster Certification Certificates
•Energy Article (2 pages)
•Cardboard Tube Roller Coasters – Teacher Directions and Design Team Requirements
•Roller Coaster Inspection Form (rubric)
•Roller Coaster Brochure Scoring Rubric
•Roller Coaster Rally Final Test covering science vocabulary and graphing concepts taught in this unit. (3 pages)
•Easy Grade Answer Sheets (3 per page)
•Individual Student Score Sheet - Used to gather and calculate end of unit score.


I taught this unit to my 4th grade class and they were completely focused and engaged in the material and activities! They were always eager to get started and disappointed when our time ended. Not only did my students have fun, they learned an amazing amount and were able to talk knowledgably about the concepts. I had several adults in and out of my room (Roller coasters tend to draw an audience.) and my students were eager to share their learning with our visitors! (See preview for photos of product being used in my classroom.)

I used Knex Roller Coaster kits that I had funded through DonorsChoose.org, but they are not necessary to successfully teach this unit. I think it would be even more exciting for students to build roller coasters of their own design. I’ve included in this product simple teacher instructions and student guidelines for “Cardboard Tube Coasters”.

Please take a moment to check out the extensive preview of this product for a clearer idea of the contents and quality of this item before purchasing. The preview contains many example pages and a unit overview.

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