JoinElementary | Daily Do
Taking a Zipline to School
Sensemaking Lesson from The Tech Interactive
Lesson Overview
In this lesson, learners experience the phenomenon of ziplines transporting Columbian students to school. Students recognize a problem to solve: “How do you slow the zipline cart’s descent to keep it from crashing into the pole on the downhill end of the zipline?” Students engage in practices to apply science ideas (forces) and engineering ideas (criteria and constraints) to design a tool, system, or process that slows the cart to help ensure students’ safe arrival at school.
You can also access the Taking a Zipline to School lesson from The Tech Interactive website.
Materials and Preparation
Materials
- Chart paper (2 pieces)
- Markers (2-3)
- Devise to project videos
- Zipline Project packets* (1 per student)
*pages 11-15 of the Taking a Zipline to School lesson plan
Building Materials
Look for items that match the categories; see the suggestions below for ideas. Try to provide several different types of items for each category. Keep in mind that devices may fall from a height, so materials should be durable.
Acknowledgements
The Tech Interactive is a world class science and technology center in the heart of the Silicon Valley that welcomes over 250,000 visitors a year.
Our mission is to develop the next generation of problem-solvers locally, nationally and globally, through the creation and distribution of world-class immersive STEAM education resources.
