Engage Every Learner: Exploring Forces, Motion, Math, and Culture

• Get Students Talking and Thinking
• The questions you ask and how you introduce students to topics matter!
• Designed to facilitate conceptual understanding while introducing force and motion.
• Engages students of all ages in discussions and talk by tapping into their experiences, observations, and prior understandings.
• Attends to the challenge of engagement and developing critical thinking while doing hands-on activities.
• This resource is a re-imagining and adaptation of a rollercoaster curriculum (included as reference) that does the following:

Teach Physics Through Culture, Story, and Design — With a Real Black Roller Coaster Engineer.

• Most curriculum leaves out identity, culture, and real-world representation — so I redesigned it to connect with students’ lived experiences while deepening true conceptual understanding.

• This is a culturally-adaptive, project-based STEM unit that increases belonging, engagement, and conceptual understanding — while teaching REAL physics & math.

• A ready-to-use STEM unit that integrates roller coaster physics, math, identity, and engineering design — created by STEM education researcher Dr. Catherine Quinlan.

Included:

Student handouts

Teacher question guides

Step-by-step lesson sequence

Project and activities based learning

Culturally adaptive design

Literacy + history integration

Worksheets + prompts

Math and physics alignment

Flexible grade-band use

This ready-to-teach STEM unit helps your students finally see themselves in science while learning real-world physics concepts like force, motion, energy, and speed — all through the exciting world of roller coasters and a Black roller coaster engineer.

Created by STEM education researcher Dr. Catherine Quinlan, this unit blends academic rigor, identity, and engagement so your students don’t just learn science — they connect with it.

• Middle school science or STEM classes
• Introductory physics units
• Engineering design projects
• Culturally responsive learning
• After-school & enrichment
• Parents teaching STEM at home
• Great for Elementary and as an engaging context for High School

Use to supplement when introducing more in-depth content. This is not a content rich digital download. This download focuses on reframing implementation and engagement.