In Brief: Immanuel Lutheran Students Build 3,500-Piece Coaster

It's no easy task to assemble a 3,500-piece puzzle, much less a three-dimensional one, but eight students have done just that.

Each year, Immanuel science teacher David Kirchhoff has students design and build a K'NEX roller coaster to finish out his class' unit on simple machines.

This year's coaster was built by eight eight-grade student volunteers who used study hall breaks and their own free time to assemble the coaster over the course of five days.

Through the project, the students learned hands-on how the different classes of simple machines work individually and how they can work together as a complex machine.

In its completed state, the coaster can carry four plastic balls continuously down alternating tracks that travel through various simple machines. Students can hand-crank an elevator to carry balls from bottom to top, or connect this part of the coaster to an electric motor.