The Super-Mega-Ultra-Slide 2001 is an engineering activity for children based on the principle of friction and the problem solving process.  The slide is aimed at children in late elementary school.  The activity is designed to teach children that different surfaces produce different frictional forces.  Everyone has an intuitive grasp of this.  It is the goal of this activity to transform that intuition into a more scientific knowledge of friction.

To do this, it first helps to find out what a child already knows about friction.  Ask the child if he/she knows what the word friction means. Ask them to give you a definition of what they think it means.  Have the child rub some of the different surfaces together and tell you which ones have the highest friction and which ones have the lowest.

Now start the game:

The child chooses a target area on the landing pad.  There aren’t any sections that are more difficult to hit than others so it doesn’t really matter where they choose.  Mark the target area.

The child selects three blocks from the pile to start with and places them on the ramp.  He/she releases the puck from the highest point possible on the ramp.

Did the puck stop on the target?  If so, it is a good idea to get the child to pick another target that they think might be harder.  The learning in this game comes from problem solving so a quick solution doesn’t teach much.  If the puck did not stop on the target, get the child to switch one of the surfaces with another one from the pile.  Ask the child what type of surface they should replace it with to make the puck go closer to the target.  Should it be rougher or smoother?  Does the puck need to slide further or stop more quickly?

Continue like this until the puck stops on the target.  Afterwards, follow up with some questions about friction to reinforce the message.  Ask the child to give a new definition of friction.  Ask them to explain how they decided on which surfaces to use