Post-Visit Activity: Engineered Marble Maze

STEM Activity | STEM Career Connection: Engineer, Mathematician (angles and shapes)
Standards: 2019 MN Science 3.2.2

Plan, build, and test a maze that challenges even the most skilled marble “football player”! 

Materials:

Predict:

Football players can only run where there is an opening. How could you create a maze for your marble “football player” to run through? 

Plan: 

Think of materials you could use to block your “football player.” 

Play:

  • Decide how many correct paths will lead to the end zone. Are you down if you hit a defender? Or do you just have to scramble and find a new path?

  • Use the maze template, or draw maze walls in pencil on the inside of the box or box lid. 

  • Construct the maze walls out of the chosen materials. Attach your defender cut outs in the dead ends of the maze.

  • Roll your marble through the maze. Is it easier or harder than you wanted it to be? 

  • Make improvements to your maze.

Ponder:

  • What challenges did you encounter while constructing your maze walls? How did you find a solution? 

  • How was your maze similar or different from a classmate’s maze? 

  • If you could make a second maze, what would you do differently? 

Extension:

  • Engineer a larger maze, or make a vertical maze out of toilet paper and paper towel tubes and cardboard.

  • SEL Connection: Explore labyrinths (mazes with only one correct path and no dead ends). Does navigating a labyrinth have a calming effect for you? How are your feelings different (or the same) when completing a maze with multiple solutions?

Resources: