Our Marble Run Designs

It is very powerful to give students a picture of themselves working on a creation and listen to their interpretation of what was happening. 

When students document their work it allows them to self-reflect and gives the educator a deeper understanding of student thinking and learning. 

I listened to dialogue, observed how marble runs were created, and documented the experience, but when I listened to students explain what was happening from the pictures I gave them, I was amazed at how much information I had missed. They went deeper and talked about the trials and tribulations they experienced building their runs. They discussed persevering after multiple attempts were tried and things were still not working. And most importantly, they discussed their emotions, how they felt when things worked, didn't work, or peers bothered them. I was proud of their reflections, and their language development, both becoming more detailed over time. 

Come by and enjoy their stories, they are truly proud of their work!

Ramps and Pathways: Play-based learning at its best!

Before the March Break, my teaching partner and I started pondering and reflecting on some changes and new additions we wanted to make to the classroom. During our Tower Inquiry, we both noticed that many students enjoyed experimenting with stability and challenged themselves to see how tall or high they could build their structure before it fell down. We observed that rather than getting upset when their structures fell, they were excited by the way the items came tumbling down. Building structures and watching them fall became a daily experimental amusement. Having witnessed this, we wanted to introduce something that would allow for instant excitement with the element of experimentation! 

It was around this time that I recently purchased an amazing book which I was planning to read over the summer, but for some reason started to flip through it one night. 

It turned out to be just what we were looking for to place in our class! 

I found the following quote to be very powerful:

"According to Piaget, children learn by encountering problems they feel compelled to solve; experiencing emotions such as puzzlement, curiosity, surprise, and frustration; and engaging in the intellectual and emotional work of overcoming obstacles to solving those compelling problems. It is through this process that children make mental connections (mental relationships) that are the construction of knowledge or intelligence. The role of the constructivist educator, therefore, is to provide children with an environment that makes this process possible."  (Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children, pg. 23)

We wanted to give the students a lot of choice in their selection of materials. We decided on wooden marble run pieces, and some recyclable materials such as cove molding (had a hard time finding this, found at a specialty wood and trim store, so worth it!), stair balusters (Restore), cans, industrial packing cylinders, and regular paper rolls. We also put out various sized marbles, and metal and plastic balls (thanks to my engineer brother-in-law who provided me with the balls). Our hope was that students would create marble runs which would allow for experimentation producing instant reactions similar to the excitement of the tower structure falls!


Once the materials were placed, our initial observations revealed that the students were super excited to interact with them. They instantly started putting pieces together and creating pathways. I should mention that sometimes when we introduce new items at a certain learning area we take some time to view how the students are interacting with each other, what the learning looks like, and whether or not we need to intervene. In this case, though it was wonderful that so many students were interested in using the materials, our space did not support it. We could see that students were having a hard time moving around to access materials, build their pathways, and many structures sadly were disturbed. We decided to intervene and call a group meeting. We discussed the situation with the students and they were in agreement that they were frustrated and having a hard time creating what they wanted because people were in their way. They agreed that less people needed to work at the construction area and everyone should get a turn by switching everyday unless they need one extra day to finish. I truly believe that students need to experience a situation that may not be working to fully understand and be able to make changes. Had we intervened by placing a set number of students from the beginning, I'm not sure that they would have truly made the connection.

Creating, testing, and refining...

       
One morning I noticed that S. T. was working hard to create her marble run. She explored the use of many materials and took her time adjusting her pathways so that they were perfectly lined up. She then grabbed a marble and placed it at the end of the cove molding and gave it a push. The marble rolled and went into the can. She attempted this movement several more times.   

Me: "What happens if you don't push the marble?" 

She placed the marble on the cove molding.

S: "It's not moving, I need to push it."

Me: Do you think you can get your marble to move without you pushing it?"

I decided to give her some time to ponder my question. Still viewing her from across the room I noticed her watching another student's creation. She put away her materials, grabbed new ones and proceeded to create her first ramp. I was so proud of her as I watched he marble roll by itself into the can. She had a smile from ear to ear! 

"When a teacher respects young children's unique thinking by giving them the chance to test and refine their incorrect ideas for themselves, they are more likely to go on to correct their misconceptions." 

(Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children, pg. 16)

Learning Stories

There are many variables (e.g. slope, supports, objects, connections, targets, and pathway designs) that students can make mental relationships with to further their learning knowledge of how objects move which is interrelated with increasing intelligence. 
(Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children, pg. 39)

  Mental Relationships

"A mental connection between ideas, created by the child to make sense out of his or her experience of how things work in the world." 

Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children, pg. 24)

It was fascinating to listen and observe this group of girls as they tested out their marble run. They talked to each other, asked each other questions and wondered how to improve their structure. They had a dilemma, their marble kept rolling off the ramp and was not going onto the ramp as they wanted it to.

I feel so fortunate that I was able to capture this moment of joy, satisfaction, and camaraderie!

A few more students joined the group of girls and new ideas were tested. Targets (dominoes) were now placed at the end of the track. Experimenting slope, speed, and the movement of the marble were now being discussed!

Creating pathways that made the ball change direction was also being experimented. Precision of the ramp height, pathway, and type of ball (wood, metal, plastic, glass) had to be just right so that the ball hit the can! 

Below is a snippet of a conversation showcasing the thinking involved in creating parts of their marble run:

"Maybe if my tunnel is at a different level it will go in the tube!" J. S.

"Maybe if I use a different marble it will work. I am going to try the wood molding piece not the white tunnel (baluster)." J. S.

"Oh no! Now it's too fast, there are different weights of the marbles. The wooden one didn't go through but the marble did!" J. S.

"Let's try the really big marble!" P. I.

"I am going to go back to the first tunnel (baluster)." J. S.

Notice the different ramps they placed and modified after a few times of testing their marble run. They managed to get the ball in the can once but were unable to repeat the result. They continue to work on this design.

E. E. adjusting the baluster so that the ball travels smoothly through it in to the can.

C. D. noticed that the big marble didn't go up her second ramp. It got stuck after going down the first ramp. After trying with some smaller balls, she said that the big marble is too heavy to go up the ramp and fall in the can. 

W. E. noticed that his marble kept going over the can instead of entering the can. After a few attempts, he made a revision by placing a few small blocks under the can to lift it up. He anticipated the marble going up, therefore he lifted the can up to catch the marble! 

C. C. Also experimented using different balls. She found that the big and little glass marbles and the gold metal balls worked the best with staying on the path and hitting the can. When she tried the wooden and plastic balls, they kept rolling off the path! 

"I think it's because they're too light and they keep flying off the cove molding!" C. C.

I saw this video from the kindergarten students at Thornwood Public School in the Peel District School Board. Their wonderful teachers, Laurel Fynes and Pooneh Haghjoo (Room 109), captured this video. They were experimenting with ramps and pathways and I was very excited to show the students their video because they were building in a way that we did not try yet. 

Once the students saw the video, they were excited and inspired to try creating a marble run that enabled the ball to change directions! Below are some of their attempts. They worked tirelessly until they got it!

Beginning stages of the structure. Notice the way the cove molding is placed and touching. F. D., B. P., and Z. G. soon revised this plan since they saw that their balls were stopping before the first corner.

Their second attempt revealed the realization of lifting the first cove molding and placing it on the second so that the ball would roll smoothly. Once they tried a few times, they noticed that the ball still didn't make it past the fist corner.

"We need another ramp here so the ball can roll down!" F. D.

F. D. added a plastic lid at the first turn. Once again they tried releasing a few different balls down the ramp. The balls kept roller off the second ramp not making the turn. Z. G. and B. P. Grabbed some cylinders and blocks and decided they needed to make a wall to keep the balls from getting off the second ramp.

The wall seemed to do the trick. They also decided to add another lid at the second corner in order to make another ramp to allow the balls to go into the wood dome. After a few attempts, F. D. noticed a problem.

"The balls are stuck. We need a ramp here!" F. D.

She was referring to the middle cove molding that joined the two corners. Since they used lids of the same size, the path was parallel. They revised again.

They decided they needed to make a ramp there as well but needed something shorter than the lid. As they searched, I told them they can look in the 3 D figures basket. Maybe we would find something there. They settled on using a hexagonal prism. They laid it sideways and placed the cove molding over top. 

P. I., A. F., R. S., and M. O. were also inspired to create this creation. They tested it out many times having trouble with different balls flying off the track, or the bigger marbles not having enough speed to make it to the second ramp. "We need to make the ramp higher so the ball gets more speed!" P. I. 

Our ramps and pathways investigations continue to motivate and enthrall students. They love to share their work which builds on the learning knowledge of other students allowing for more intricate structure designs.

"Of course, we want children to acquire correct knowledge and be able to use it. Yet we cannot ignore children's many misconceptions. Erroneous ideas are important because a child's own particular wrong ideas are necessary for that child to reach certain correct ideas. All of us, children or adults, know better and more solidly what is correct when we know what is not correct." 

 (Ramps & Pathways: a constructivist approach to physics with young children, pg. 2)

An Inquiry on Towers: Building on Children's Interests

I recently read an article titled "The Plan: Building on Children's interests" by Hilary Jo Seitz. In the article, "The Plan" is a four-step process that consists of sparks, conversations, experiences, and theories and more questions. It is circular in motion and often allows for different investigative directions to take place (Seitz, 2006). 

"The Plan" seemed very straightforward and logical to me. It further supported my thinking about inquiry and enabled me to reflect on a strong interest that was starting to ignite in the classroom. The four-steps spoke to me so much that I decided to share the concept with the students and co-construct our bulletin board display to include the headings as a guide during our tower inquiry. Below is our tower inquiry journey thus far. Please note that this is our interpretation. 

Sparks (provocations)—Identify emerging ideas, look at children’s interests, hold conversations, and provide experiences (Seitz, 2006). 

In December, I started noticing that many students were creating towers at various learning areas in the classroom. Having access to measuring tools (rulers, measuring tape), students were motivated to build towers as high as they could, then measure them to figure out how tall they were. Noticing this interest, I decided to place some books and pictures of different towers found around the world at the Construction Area and see what would happen. 

I started noticing that the tower creations became more intricate and involved, and since many students visited some of the towers in the pictures, there was an intrinsic connection to the structures being built.

Conversations—Have conversations with interested participants (teachers, children,

and parents), ask questions, document conversations. Ask “What do we already know? What do we wonder about? How can we learn more? What is the plan?” (Seitz, 2006). 

As the interest in tower building continued, students became quite familiar with the names and appearances of various towers around the world. I then decided to start conversations with students as a whole group, during the sharing of their structures, as well as in smaller groups allowing for more in-depth conversations. I started by asking students what they knew about towers and what wonders they had.

What do you know about towers?

“When people build towers they start building the bottom first so they can make it stable on the bottom and make it taller.” O. S.

“People can go inside the Leaning Tower of Pisa!” K. E.

“We can go in the Chrysler Building.” E. E.

“At night you see the elevator of the CN Tower from outside and it looks like a dark blue car driving up it!” Z. G.

“Lots of towers look like a triangle so they can put the straight point and make it stable.” 

W. E.

“The Leaning Tower of Pisa was not straight up, it was leaning.” K. W.

“A skyscraper has a red light on the top that blinks.” D. A.

“So airplanes won’t fly in it.” Z. G.

“People that build stuff build towers.” C. D.

“Every night the Empire State Building lights up!” W. E.

“A really tall building is called a skyscraper.” M. S.

What do you wonder about towers?

“How many days did it take to build the Burj Khalifa?” O. M.

“How many towers can you go inside?” O. M.

“I wonder when the Leaning Tower of Pisa started tilting?” H. S.

“Who makes the material to build the towers?” E. E.

After asking this question, students started listing materials used to build towers.

1.         Metal                      6. Cement

2.         Wood                     7. Stones, rocks, pebbles

3.         Glass                     8. Concrete

4.         Paint

5.         Bricks

“How does the Leaning Tower of Pisa not fall down because it leans?” L. B.

“Why do towers look different?” W. E.

Opportunities and experiences—Provide opportunities and experiences in both the classroom and the community for further investigation, while documenting those experiences (Seitz, 2006). 

With the hopes of furthering their knowledge and supporting their explorations and investigations, purposeful materials and resources were placed at different areas in the classroom enabling students to self select and drive their own research and theories that were of interest to them.

Sharing personal experiences through dialogue and pictures also greatly supported learning. During the winter break, E. E. and W. E. went New York and took many pictures of the different towers they saw and visited. The knowledge they shared and the new information gained by their classmates was amazing and was evident in the various works created by students.

Below is some of the information that was shared by E. E. and W. E. with their classmates through dialogue and pictures:

"The Empire State Building has three elevators and one escalator and at the very top everything looks very small and you can see the Statue of Liberty!" W. E.

"We saw the whole world when we were at the top!" E. E.

"It had lots of windows. Why doesn't the Burj Khalifa have lots of windows?" E. E.

"This is the Chrysler Building, in the daytime the lights don't light up." W. E.

"It has lots more windows than the Empire State Building." E. E.

"It lights up at night to make it look pretty." W. E.

"The Empire State Building was the tallest building because when we were at the top the other towers looked smaller." W. E.

"Why do they all have points at the top?" K. E.

"Because that's how it goes thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top!" H. S.

"And so that when planes fly by they can see the tower!" E. E.

Experiences of exploration and investigation using purposeful materials:

Theories—Think further about the process. Document questions and theories. In other words, teachers, children, and parents identify something of interest; we discuss what we know about it or what we want to know about it; we experience it or have opportunities to learn about the idea; and then we discuss what we did and either ask more questions or make new theories. We document our understandings throughout the whole process (Seitz, 2006). 

I noticed that the students were using the words tower and skyscraper interchangeably. So I decided to ask them the question: Is a tower a skyscraper? 

"They make towers strong and tall so they don't fall over." S. T.

"A tower is a skyscraper because it's tall and it almost touches the sky!" Z. G.

"A skyscraper is a kind of building that's called a structure. It depends how tall towers are. If you have a really tall building or structure, it's a skyscraper." O. S.

"But the Statue of Liberty looks like a person, it's not a building." P. I.

"It has doors; it's a statue and a building." Z. G.

"But a skyscraper has to be tall and it has to touch the sky like a tower!" W. E.

"A skyscraper is something that is really tall and has a sharp point at the top." F. D.

"A building has a lot of windows and a skyscraper doesn't have that much." H. S.

"A skyscraper is a really tall building that can touch the sky and has a point so it can scrape the sky." K. W.

"The CN Tower is not the same size as a building." M. O.
Thought about his house and how it's a building.
"The CN Tower is way taller than my house so it's not a building." M. O.

"Yea, my grandma lives in an apartment building and it's smaller than the CN Tower!" O. S.

This was an interesting discussion. Many different aspects were coming out of this conversation. What is a tower? What makes a tower a tower? What is a skyscraper? Is a tower a skyscraper? What is a building? What is a structure? In the end, there seemed to be opposing views by students. Some who argued that towers are little and skyscrapers are big. Others thought towers are taller than skyscrapers. It is not important who is correct but the critical thinking and reasoning they give to defend their theories. We will continue to investigate...

Just a few days ago, a new spark ignited yet another direction of investigation. During a group sharing, O. S. asked to share something she researched with her dad the previous night on the computer. I had no idea what she was going to share, but I loved the fact that her learning and motivation was extended to the home environment and brought back to our classroom.  She took out a piece of paper and told us that her dad and her researched how tall the CN Tower was in feet on the computer. As an aside, the students have some familiarity with the measurement in feet, which stemmed from our bat inquiry having had to figure out how high 12 feet was to place our bat box in the spring. O. S. showed me the written note her dad gave her to share with the class. I asked her if she could then write how tall the CN Tower was on our easel so we would remember. I was so excited, as I was hoping this may lead to students inquiring about the height of other towers leading to further explorations and investigations in comparison etc. The pictures below showcase the combined work effort of some students. I showed them how to use the computer and read the number to their friend who was writing on the easel. It was remarkable to step back and see how well they managed on their own. Most importantly it was nice to see how well they supported each other, how driven they were, and confident!

In supporting our current wonders, we will continue to converse, experience, and share new theories that arise from our research on towers.