On Friday, February 27th, the entire Eighth Grade class trekked to Mendon Ponds Park to test their friction-defying sleds they constructed during their engineering and physics unit in science. The students were charged with the task of designing and building a snow sled that would experience the lowest force of friction.

Before the culminating event, however, the students worked diligently in the Commons workshop to design and construct their sleds. They used the conveniently-located snow pile between the Commons and rain garden to gather initial data to help them refine their designs and improve their sleds’ features.

 

In order to culminate the project, they had to take to the sledding hill to collect data and, of course, have some fun! Each student participated in the data collection and discussed the physics involved in the project after the test runs. Mrs. Rivers, Miss J, Chris Hartman, many of the 8th Grade teaching team, parent volunteers, and some community helpers all participated in the epic engineering adventure at sub-freezing temperatures. The students were all in great spirits, whether their sleds were successful or not. Everyone started out in the lodge to get instructions for the day and to create their tables for recording results for the speed of each sled.

The moment of truth came when the sleds hit the hills at Mendon Ponds. Some sleds performed above expectations, while others did not. After all students had the opportunity to run their sleds (whether in bobsled or luge position), they returned to the lodge to eat lunch and crunch numbers to find the most successful sled design.