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Get the fun rolling with the STEAM Accredited Marble Rush Corkscrew Rush Set for ages 4 and up.
Get the fun rolling with the STEAM Accredited Marble Rush Corkscrew Rush Set for ages 4 and up.

Marble Rush™ Corkscrew Rush Set™ Random Challenge

This Marble Rush™ challenge explores the concept of randomness and how it makes things unpredictable. The Green Vortexes, Corkscrew Tumbler, and Yellow Marble Tray are fun components that make exploring this concept a great STEAM investigation.
Marble Rush Corkscrew Rush Set

Marble Rush™ Golden Rules

  • Gravity pulls things down.

    Rule #1: Gravity

    Gravity pulls things down.
  • Slope affects speed.

    Rule #2: Slope

    Slope affects speed.
  • Random is unpredictable.

    Rule #3: Random

    Random is unpredictable.
  • Force is a push or a pull.

    Rule #4: Force

    Force is a push or a pull.
  • Friction is everywhere.

    Rule #5: Friction

    Friction is everywhere.

Learn About Random

Random is a word to describe when something happens without purpose or pattern. This concept can be observed or demonstrated by constructing and playing with the marble track set and noting the order of the marbles at the track’s start and end. Paying attention to specific track pieces can reveal how the order of the marbles can get reordered along the way. You can also make a few simple adjustments to the tracks to introduce (or remove) randomness to the order of the marbles.
See Random in Action

See Random in Action

Real World Connection

Many things that happen in our daily life appear to be random. In a bag of candies with equal quantity of different flavors, the piece that you blindly pull out of the bag is random. When we use the term random, we sometimes think we have no way to know what will come out. But in fact, in mathematical terms, we have a pretty good idea. If the bag of candies has equal quantity of 5 different flavors, then there is 1 out of 5, or 20% chance of pulling any flavor. We can easily tip the scale to one flavor by simply adding a few more pieces of your desired flavor. In this challenge, young scientists will investigate whether racing down the marble tracks will yield random or predictable outcomes.

Hands-On Challenge: Random!

What’s Needed:

  • Marble Rush™ Corkscrew Rush Set™
  • 5 different colored marbles
  • A piece of paper
  • Something to write with (pencil, pen, crayon, marker)
  • Child dropping several marbles into the Green Fill & Tip Barrel to send them down the track. Child dropping several marbles into the Green Fill & Tip Barrel to send them down the track.

    Complete the construction set as illustrated, then place 4 marbles in the Starting Gate to begin. Complete the construction set as illustrated, then drop a few marbles into the Green Fill & Tip Barrel and guess which marble will finish first. Then, tip the Green Fill & Tip Barrel over and see what happens. Did you guess right?

  • Child watches and cheers as the marbles race through the track. Child watches and cheers as the marbles race through the track.

    Now, focus on the Green Fill & Tip Barrel, note how the order in which you place the marbles into the Green Fill & Tip Barrel isn’t always the same as the order of the marbles at the finish. This is what we mean when something is unpredictable or happens randomly.

  • Marble shown at the beginning of the track with an inset image of the marble at the end. Marble shown at the beginning of the track with an inset image of the marble at the end.

    Collect the same marbles and place them into the Green Fill & Tip Barrel in the same order as the last time you started. Now, make a prediction: do you think they will end in the same order or a different order from last time? Why?

Thinking Critically: Realizing Random

Exploration 1: Random Rearrangement

Investigate ways to change the track layout to see if you can randomize the order of the marbles between the start and end of the track. First, place the 5 different colored marbles at the start and record the order in which you placed them. Start them down the track and then record the order of the marbles at the end. You can rearrange the pieces to see what effect this has on the order in which the marbles finish the track. Draw a simple sketch of your design and write down your prediction of what order they will finish. Finally, record the finishing order.

  • Were you ever able to predict the finishing order of all 5 marbles? Why do you think this is?
  • What track pieces do you think make things more random?
Child dropping several marbles into the top of of the track and watches as they roll down.

Exploration 2: Removing Random

Sometimes it is important for things to be predictable instead of random. Try to make it so the finishing order is not random—this means that the order the marble start is the same order that they finish. Complete this activity by first selecting and removing 1 track piece. Then, place 5 marbles at the start, record their order, and see what order they finish in.

  • Do the marbles enter the Corkscrew Tumbler in the same order that they exit the corkscrew? Why or why not?
  • Which track pieces caused the marble order to be different from the start? How many of these randomizing track pieces were there?
Track featuring pieces that only allow the marble to go one way.

Exploration 3: Random Reliance

The randomization effect can be introduced by the interaction between two track pieces. This occurs when the features of one track piece influences the behavior of the marbles as they pass through another track piece. Experiment with this by creating a layout design where the Yellow Pinch Track feeds marbles into the Large Green Vortex. Then, place 5 marbles at the start and record their order as they enter the Yellow Pinch Track. Then, record the order in which the marbles exit the Large Green Vortex.

  • Do the marbles enter the Large Green Vortex in the same order that they exit this piece?
  • How does the Yellow Pinch Track influence the behavior of the marbles in the Large Green Vortex?
Marbles are effected by the Large Green Vortex and Yellow Pinch Track pieces.