Going Marbles for STEM Hands-on Learning Project

Do you remember the excitement of dropping a marble into a maze and watching it roll, spin, and finally land at the bottom of your track? Middle School students put that excitement into their latest hands-on learning project as they tinkered away in the MakerSpace Design Lab to create handheld marble mazes for an in-class competition.

 

In pairs of two, students worked together to brainstorm the theme and structural design of the maze, which had to be 6 x 6 inches. Using an MDF board as the base with wood sides measuring 1.5 inches and a Plexiglas top, the pairs had to creatively assemble the maze with the goal of the marble ball moving through from the start to finish line. The maze had to have one singular route all the way through, at least one bridge for the ball to go over, and at least one tunnel for the ball to pass through. Lower School MakerSpace teacher Ann Kohler challenged the students to think outside of the box with the design and the materials necessary to build it.

 

On the day of the competition, the pairs presented their mazes to a series of judges, including Middle School Director Brian Christman, Middle School science teacher Aidan Clark-Long, history teacher Bud Kohler, Upper School science and MakerSpace instructor Rich Chiarmonte, and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Helen Barnstable. The creative designs ranged from athletic themes featuring golf and the New York Yankees to childhood games of Candy Land and Monopoly to a deck of cards and flowers. The mazes were judged on creativity, originality of design and materials, and appearance.

 

“The students really got creative with this project as they had the opportunity to choose their own designs,” commented Mrs. Kohler. “The judging portion also sparked fun, competitive spirit amongst the students.”