One goal oriented lab I have been using is the hot wheel on the loop the
loop. The students must dtermine the starting height for the hot wheel car
to just barely make the loop the loop without coming off.
For the engineering class I give them Hot wheel cars that are high friction.
For non-engineers I give the fast cars. Students need to measure the energy
loss due to friction, usually they come to the realization that they can
measure the starting and stopping height for an appropriate length of track.
Loss of contact is determined by sound and chalk dust spread on the top of
the loop. I am thinking of trimming the edge off a piece of track and video
taping their runs to see if it can be seen to come off the track.