Volume 3, No. 3. February 14, 2003
Accelerated
learning
Using
an amusement park as a classroom or science laboratory is standard practice.
Using an amusement park as something similar to an extension course; well, that
is what sets Knoebels Groves Amusement Resort’s new partnership with Bloomsburg
University apart.
“We’ve
always wanted to have a science and physics program, as a lot of parks have,”
said Joe Muscato, marketing director at the Elysburg, Pennsylvania, park. “We
wanted to do a couple of things differently.” Muscato went so far as to
track down any science class that visited the park and solicit the teachers
for advice. “We were always looking for someone to partner up with us,
a group of teachers or a college.”
The partner called Muscato “clear out of the blue,” he said: Emeric
Schultz, a professor at Bloomsburg University in nearby Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania,
and director of the university’s Mathematics and Science Learning Center.
The center runs a two-week summer camp for kids and last summer Schultz asked
Knoebels to host an outing.
The lesson plan had the campers build models of a swing ride, boom ride and
roller coaster with K’NEX construction toys, then they put motion detectors
and small accelerometers on the models to measure distance velocity and acceleration.
After studying the physical forces on the toys, the campers did the same on
the real rides at Knoebels, the kids wearing accelerometers duct taped to their
shoulders and wired to belly packs. Coming off the ride, the students downloaded
the information into Texas Instruments Computer-Based Learning units which they
then took back to the camp for further study.
“There’s great physics happening in amusement parks,” Schultz
said. “It’s interesting, it’s fun. I think they really make the
connection between the model they’re building and actually experiencing
the ride.”
The success of that outing led Schultz and his colleagues, with Knoebels' support,
to develop a similar program that middle and high school teachers could incorporate
into their own classes. The Learning Center has purchased more Computer-Based
Learning units that teachers at local schools can sign out. Knoebels is marketing
the program as a turnkey unit schools can incorporate into their school picnics.
“This is the kind of thing Bloomsburg and Knoebels can offer support for,
but teachers can develop it for their particular classes individually,”
Muscato said. “And we can offer it over more dates.” Knoebels’
support includes, at least, priority queuing at the rides and, on request, instruction
from staff engineers. Schultz considers Knoebels the perfect laboratory beyond
having the rides that parallel the models the students build. “It’s
a nice setting. You can get off a ride and set up shop on a bench to download
information.”
The program allows Knoebels to offer more incentive for schools to schedule
their picnics at the park. “We’ve always had eight tours (of the park’s
Mine Museum, the waterpark and other topical tours),” Muscato said. “This
has more substance. There’s more science going on here. Somewhere along
the way, some of these kids are going to get hooked on the science of amusement
parks, and that could be valuable later. At minimal expense, you’re able
to give something back, and that’s always a good thing, too.”
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