STEAM in The Hub

Using our science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills to create and compete in the inaugural Hub marble run!

Two weeks ago The Hub started a new project, the students had to get into groups of three and make a marble run. 

The main focus was to learn more about angles and speed. The aim was to have the slowest running marble run. 

Teams used sandpaper, tape, cardboard, fluff, toothpicks, plastic bottles, lego to slow down their design. But the winning team used a thick, sticky, gooey substance, can you guess what it is? It was dishwashing liquid! Their time was 12.42 seconds. Very impressive! 

The marble runs were all on a cardboard base, which the students could fold out to make them longer or cut off bits to make them shorter. The main material people used was cardboard, they built ramps/slides, sometimes the cardboard overlapped or underlapped but that was the only downfall. 

We had four sessions to work on our marble run, one of those four was based on designing and deciding what's going where. 

Overall this project was very impactful because it helped The Hub understand angles, speed and materials better, it also made them persevere and keep trying after failed attempts. 

The Hub would like to thank Mr. Min and Mrs. McBride for helping us throughout this project. 

By Fay O'Neill