With the cancellation of most sports due to the Coronavirus pandemic, marble racing is growing in popularity on television and social media.

Calais School science teacher Binal Shah and her Upper School students have also joined in the fun. For a special at-home STEM project, Mrs. Shah asked her students “to show their ‘STEM’ thinking and creativity” and create their own marble runs. Mrs. Shah said she gave them “free reign to work on” their projects. The only requirement was that it had to be a Rube Goldberg project, the marble run, she said.

“I talked to the students on how I wanted them to work on this project, specifying that this was their project and they can build it in any form or way,” Mrs. Shah said. “They could use cardboard for the base or even stick it on the wall, provided they use painter’s tape as to not mess up the wall.  The materials had to be anything found around the house, so they did not have to go out to buy anything.”

In mid-May, Mrs. Shah said she and the students decided to do Choice boards which has both STEM and Science activities.  The marble runs were included. Students used everything from paper towel rolls to cups to anything that they could find in their homes to complete this fun challenge.

HBO “This Week Tonight” host John Oliver is sponsoring a marble race in June and is teaming up with YouTube’s Zelle’s Marble Races. Marbles travel through a variety of obstacles including water and sand and funnels.

Instagram also featured four different marble races including the Quarantine Cup with racing marbles and the national anthem. For the link, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHIh2Spb8bM.