Girard’s 7th graders are on a roll

GIRARD — Forget Cedar Point. When it comes to roller coasters, the Girard Junior High School gymnasium was the place to be Friday afternoon.

More than 200 seventh-graders gathered to show off roller coaster science projects they’ve been working on for the past four weeks.

Jennifer Nicholas, their science teacher, started the roller coaster expo last year as a way to help her pupils learn the ins and outs of potential and kinetic energy.

“They love it,” she said. “They would walk into class every day and ask, ‘Are we working on them today?’”

Nicholas said the teams’ coasters are judged by the other seventh-grade teachers, and each coaster is judged twice.

“The judges ask them questions about how their coaster works, and they have to answer based on what they know about kinetic and potential energy,” she said.

The kids also must describe to the judges where each of the energies is the greatest and how the energy changes as the ball goes along the track.

Read more in Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com