Bring energy transfers to life with this engaging KS3 physics investigation where pupils explore how ramp height affects the speed and distance of a marble.

This resource pack includes a fully illustrated PowerPoint and a student investigation worksheet, designed to support hands-on learning and clear understanding of energy stores and transfers.

The lesson uses the exciting context of rollercoasters to introduce key ideas about gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy and thermal energy before pupils carry out their own practical investigation.

Students test how changing the height of a ramp affects how far a marble travels, linking their results to energy transfers:

gravitational energy store → kinetic energy store → thermal energy store

Included in this resource

✔ Illustrated 13-slide teaching PowerPoint
✔ Student investigation worksheet
✔ Prediction, method and results table
✔ Scaffolded questions linking energy stores to observations
✔ Higher-order challenge question
✔ Designed for a full practical lesson