Engineering in Motion at Robert Moses Middle School

Sixth grade students in Mr. Brodmerkel’s class at Robert Moses Middle School put their engineering skills to the test during a hands-on STEM lesson focused on design and problem solving. As part of the project, students transformed into young mechanical engineers as they designed and built their own roller coasters using classroom materials such as plastic cups, cardboard tubes and other recyclable items.
Working in teams or independently, students created multilevel marble mazes, testing how their designs allowed a marble to travel from start to finish. Throughout the process, they evaluated their structures, made adjustments and redesigned elements to improve performance. The project concluded with sixth graders presenting their roller coasters to the class and explaining their design choices, reinforcing key STEM concepts including engineering, creativity and perseverance.