Inspired by Newton’s Laws of Motion, 9th grade students created a carnival of physics-based games for Middle School students. All the games were controlled by the ideas of force, changing mass, and how objects react to the force of another object.

For the assignment, each student needed to create (1) a carnival game using Newton’s Laws, (2) a rules posters about how to play each game, and (3) a brochure that explained the science behind their game. Some students adapted existing carnival games while others started completely from scratch.

Ideas included:

• A new take on the traditional tug ‘o’ war where pulling too hard on the rope would knock over a pillar.
• A game where the objective was to throw a ball into a cup – going against the wind made by a fan.
• A game where you had to slam down on a lever to hit a ball into a cup.
• A game where you slid two boxes together and used that impact to get a smaller box into different squares for points.

Middle School students attended the Physics Carnival during snack and advisory time, and it gave the students a preview of the work they will be doing in the Upper School.