Merrick Sixth Graders Build A Better Ball Run

MERRICK, NY — Science wasn’t just a ball for Birch School sixth graders this week, it was a ball run. Specifically, a homemade one, as the Merrick sixth graders took part in the 2026 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge.

The brain child of science education and curriculum organization Science Buddies, the Engineering challenge gives students in grades K-12 the chance to design and build contraptions before putting them to the test.

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This year, it was a physics challenge, as students attempted to build a slide for a ping pong ball out of paper and tape. The catch, Science Buddies representatives said, was that the ping pong ball needed to take as long as possible to reach the bottom of the slide. The slide was required to have an entrance that stood at least 10” off the ground and an exit that stood at least 1” off the ground.

“A basic straight ramp doesn’t slow the ball down very much,” a Science Buddies instructional video says. “It’s up to [students] to make the ball take longer.”

In Merrick, district officials said the challenge was a chance to apply innovative thinking skills to plan, test and refine their ball runs. The work didn’t stop at Merrick, however, as the sixth graders have entered their work in a nationwide science buddies competition, an accomplishment district officials said made the district “incredibly proud.”

“Regardless of the outcome, they have already shown what it means to think like engineers,” district officials said.