Ann-Marie Pendrill-Coaster

C O llaboration: A musement Park S cience T echnology E ducation R esources fysik.org + physics.gu.se/LISEBERG

COASTER COllaboration on Amusement park Science and Technology Education Resources Ann-Marie.Pendrill@fysik.lu.se (Prof. physics) Conny Modig, Andreas Theve, Ulrik Lundby Hansen

The Amusement Park as a Science Center Gender-neutral high-tech! Physics for many senses, in a variation of contexts, and authentic, enjoyable settings Combining the math and physics with the experience of eyes and your own body, ...with measurements using toys, mobile phones and electronics Calculations and estimations

Amusement parks in textbooks?
Potential and kinetic energy in roller coasters
Centripetal forces in carousels
Free fall in drop towers

Data collection and analysis

Amusement rides offer illustrations of physics principles that are known to be difficult!
Newtons's laws apply also to HUMAN bodies
Equivalence principle: Inertial (ma) and Gravitational (mg) mass
Acceleration and rotations are absolute - can be measured within the system.
a = F /m Acceleration is felt throughout the body!

Schools: Students and Teachers University / Teacher Ed. Amusement Parks

In amusement parks, physics is fun - And the fun is physics!

Learning? "The one who learns most about a subject is the one who talks about it ... usually the teacher" (or IBSE?) + "Variation theory" (Marton): Experience a phenomenon in qualitatively different ways .... transferrable knowledge

How can teachers make use of amusement rides for MST education?
Common shared experience + use authentic data, photos, movies in examples
Visits: Different levels of difficulty
Quiz + identify accelerometer graphs
Joint focus on 2-3 familiar rides
Group assignments, 2-3 rides/4-6 students
... with electronic data collection
Take part in science day - or visit on your own
Preparation - follow-up (+ pre-post diagnoses)
Playgrounds provide useful practice!!!

ACTIVITIES and INTERACTIONS
MINIMIZE TEACHER - STUDENT INTERACTION?
Worksheet - to guide observations.
Let students discover new things with worksheet as a guide.
STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTIONS !
MAXIMIZE INTERACTION:
Just-in-time teaching. Challenge observations, perceptions, contrast responses with experiences of the body
Cognitive conflict
TEACHER OWNERSHIP!!!

TEACHER OWNERSHIP
ÏT ... more like clothes than like fire; to get a benefit, you must make them a part of your personal space, tailored to your needs.
(Chris Dede 1995)

How can teacher educations make use of amusement parks?
E.g.
Practice in identifying relevant STEM
Deeper understanding of the physics (science, technology) involved
Increased awareness of common conceptual difficulties
Experiences of learning in informal settings.
Teacher observatory on science days!

“ TEACHER OBSERVATORY” We knew that teachers play a role - but not THAT much (Student teacher)

Amusement parks + science & technology?
Different approaches
S&T: Not visible in material for schools or the public
School material produced in-house
School material produced in collaboration with e.g. teacher organisations, teacher educations, science centers or universities
+ S&T information displayed in parks
Arranging science days
VIEWS of S&T? Public Understanding ...

Why collaboration, parks + education ?
Many very common misconceptions
about force and motion
..... especially accelerated motion, e.g.
"An astronaut is weightless in space because there is no gravity"
????
Amusement parks are full of examples to illustrate textbook Gedanken experiments -
And many opportunities to challenge misconceptions!
(Rather than disseminating them)
Een astronaut in de ruimte weegt helemaalniets, omdat er geen zwaartekracht is.

Weightlessness = FREE FALL (Here: Built-in parabolic flight)

What's in it for the parks?
Popular school visits ... but more likely to be popular for schools with explicit learning opportunities
Way to attract local schools to park
Make use of resources that are (at times) underused to generate income and/or goodwill

Why collaboration between park education programmes?

Different themes - same physics

Projects for learning in Amusement Parks
Student Teachers:
Physics and Technology –
TEACHER OBSERVATORY + helping out
Mathematics Education: Student-created problems and grading instructions
Engineering Physics (and Physics students)‏
Forces and acceleration in roller coasters and other rides + reading drawings and patents
Teacher Days and school Physics/Science Days:
Liseberg – Tivoli -- Gröna Lund (+ Tusenfryd)
+ ...?

physics.gu.se/LISEBERG/ Physicsday.org (US) [email_address]

PHYSICS- FILLED FUN

Expensive equipment?
Slinky
Rabbit +
Protractor
(Show my kit)
Water mug + bottle
Film med karusell i bakgrund
Vest
Iphone4
Knowledge!
Force ON your OWN body!
Important - irrelevant
Ser inte bara med ögonen.

Collaborations needed!
Park has data - but usually not easily available
Teachers face many challenges for visits Textbooks not very helpful
"Teacher observatory!
University
Engineering
Networking same/similar rides in many parks, recycle problems.
Science Center - school contact, preparations ...

Collaboration – win-win!

Loup-Garou Les seules montagnes russes en bois de Belgique Vibrations assurées tout au long des 1 028 mètres de parcours à vitesse folle (80 km/h), avec un point culminant à 32 mètres, une dizaine de descentes vertigineuses et 7 virages diaboliques !

Amusement parks: Math + ICT

Cette couleuvre t’emmène dans un trajet captivant. Tu fais un parcours dans lequel tu va 3 fois à l'envers, après tu refais ceci en arrière. Captivant et ssssensationnel ! Speed 80km/h Capacity 750 Length 285m

Planning science days ...
Advertising, costs
Data needed
Capacity + flow
Ensure that not all high-school students wait of free fall rides
Student tasks + teacher support
Safety
Back-up
Food

"In the Pony Carousel, the cuddly toys on the strings started to move like this. I think it was to prove that the Earth is rotating." "I learned that when going in the Pony Carousel, the cuddly toy kept going in the same direction while I was going around." (10-year olds, 3 months later)

3 months later:
When you used the slinky in the
Frog Hopper, you got to see how
much you weighed.
When you went up, it was stretched
out because there was so much speed.
The slinky went up and down. When you were at
the highest point, the slinky was the shortest, which
means that you were the lightest.
Multiple senses

Idealizations vs reality. Authenticity
Rotating system
Free fall
YOU are the object
Energy losses in roller coasters.
Qualitative - Quantitative

School visits to amusement parks offer rich and inspiring learning opportunities in mathematics, science and technology, and the rides illustrate many important principles: The carousel is a roting coordinate system, drop towers let us experience the weightlessness of free fall, pendulum rides give a periodic variation between feeling light and heavy, rollercoasters use an interplay between potential and kinetic energy to take the riders through a wide variety of three-dimensional motions. What technology is used to keep the riders safe? How does the body respond to the unusual motions -and how do our different senses contribute to the experience? What forces act on the body -and how can they be calculated and measured using different tools, from simple toys to advanced ICT applications? For student teachers, a school event in an amusement park provides an opportunity to study pupil's learning and observe many teachers and classes in action. A collaboration between the amusement industry, universities and schools, enable teachers and students access to a deeper and more detailed understanding of the science involved. This talk describes such a collaboration between schools and universities in Sweden and Denmark and the Liseberg, Gröna Lund and Tivoli Gardens amusement parks

Ann-Marie Pendrill-Coaster

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