STEM Activity | STEM Career Connection: Mathematician (angles and shapes)
Standards: 2019 MN Science 3.2.2
Use STEM and your powers of prediction to navigate a marble “running back” through the challenges of a well-placed defense!
Materials
- Football Defender Cutouts
- Scissors
- Masking tape
- Pencil/marker
- A marble
- ~9” high-sided paper plates (or similar)
- 5 strips of construction paper (~1×5”) or maze template pieces
Predict
How do football players use math to avoid defenders?
Plan
How could you use a plate and paper strips to make a maze for your “football player” marble to navigate?
Play
- Experiment with rolling a marble around a plate. How do you change direction? What happens if you go faster or slower?
- If using the maze template pieces or the player cutouts, color them with the colors of the opposing team.
- Tape strips of construction paper (or maze template pieces) onto the plate to make arches under which the marble “player” will roll.
- Decide which defenders you need to get past to score. Beat the defenders by rolling the “football player” marble under the arches.
Ponder
- How is directing your marble through the maze similar to a player running through defenders? How is it different?
- How does the speed of the marble affect the ability to change direction?
- SEL Connection: What did you do when rolling your marble through the maze became frustrating?
Extension
- Create a larger class maze with found materials (ex. books, pool noodles), and navigate the maze by kicking or rolling a ball.
- Complete the Engineered Maze activity.
