Lafayette Middle School Roller Coasters

It can be hard for teachers to keep students focused at the end of the year...
That's why teachers at Lafayette Middle School planned a special project.
The students had to use the science they had learned all year long to make an amusement park.
WDEF News 12's Mandy Odom has the story as we cover the classroom.

When you think of roller coasters, most people don't think about the math and science it takes to build one.
But the 8th grade students at Lafayette Middle School did just that when they made roller coasters their very own.
Student Brady Underwood says, "Momentum, the first hill has to be the highest."
"We had to have these for inertia, because if we didn't have them it would fly off in the center point," student Sam Clayton said.

The boy's dads helped them to build it using PVC pipes and wood.
They said it was hard work, but a lot of fun putting what they had learned all year into this project.
And that's exactly what their teachers wanted them to do.
Physical Science Teacher Carol Shaw says, "We've learned a lot about force and motion and problem solving and just how to apply what you know."
Student Winston Hunter says they've been learning and planning for this project all year.

He says he learned more than just math and science from it, but life lessons.
"I learned that if you work really hard you can get good results out of it, and I learned that there is a lot of science in the roller coasters in amusement parks, and I didn't know there was that much into them," Hunter says.
The teachers say they'll do something like this project again next year since it was such a hit with the kids.
But these students don't plan to shut down their amusement park here.
Underwood says, "We want to take it back and add on to it."
"We're gonna make it a lot bigger," Clayton says.
In Lafayette, Mandy Odom, WDEF News 12.