Adora Svitak: "What adults can learn from kids"

In 2010, 12 year old Adora Svitak delivered a TED Talk: "What Adults Can Learn From Kids." I just love her message about the power of inspiration and dreaming. She says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. 

"Kids can be full of inspiring aspirations and hopeful thinking, like my wish that no one went hungry or that everything were a free kind of utopia. How many of you still dream like that and still believe in the possibilities? Sometimes a knowledge of history and the past failures of utopian ideals can be a burden because you know that if everything were free, then the food stocks would become depleted, and scarce and lead to chaos. On the other hand, we kids still dream...

No matter your position or place in life, it is imperative to create opportunities for children so that we can grow up to blow you away.

Adults and fellow TEDsters, you need to listen and learn from kids and trust us and expect more from us. You must lend an ear today, because we are the leaders of tomorrow."

Rollercoaster Marble Challenge

Design Challenge:

Can you construct a rollercoaster that will carry a marble from the top to the bottom using gravity and forces?

Questions:

How is your design similar and different from a real rollercoaster?

What features in your design were necessary for the marble to roll all the way to the end?

What problems did you face in your design process?

How did you improve your design?

How does friction affect your marble?

How are potential and kinetic energy used in a rollercoaster?

Vocabulary

Gravity: Force of attraction of objects to the centre of the earth

Potential energy: Stored energy that an object or substance has because of it’s position or condition.  For example, rollercoaster at the top of the track.  Potential energy can change (transform) into kinetic energy

Kinetic energy: Working energy that an object or substance has because of its’ motion. Examples, rollercoaster going down a hill, waterfall

Friction: Surface resistance to motion