Volume 2, No. 20. October 25, 2002
Post-grad
education
It’s an old
adage: if you want to get through to someone, speak to them in their own language.
Even if the lesson is one of physics.
Ron Gustafson, newly installed as director of educational programs at Quassy
Amusement Park in Middlebury, Connecticut, turned to a group of local experts
to help put together his park’s physics day program for next spring: five
students at Rochambeau Middle School.
“Our philosophy was to have the physics program designed by students for
students, so it wouldn’t be written way over the heads of your typical
third grader,” said Gustafson. “If you go to a physicist, they’ll
come out with something not even a rocket scientist would understand, let alone
third grade students on a school field trip.”
This in no way is meant to diminish the skills or knowledge of the students
who helped Gustafson put together his program. He enlisted the help of Judy
York, a Project Explore teacher, to recruit students from her academic enrichment
program. The five boys—Dom Narducci, John Giammatteo, Roddy Doble, Zack
Feirer and Paul Madenjian— went to work armed with basic information about
Quassy’s flat rides and roller coasters.
“I was blown away when I went into that particular classroom,” Gustafson
said. “They had computers all set up and were able to go on line to get
definitions and research the rides.” The boys first tracked down definitions
of centrifugal and centripetal force, potential and kinetic energy and Newton’s
Three Laws of Motion. They studied hydraulic and other propulsion systems. Then
they applied these principles to Quassy’s rides. By the end of the morning
they had formed the basis for the park’s educational physics tour.
“I’ve got about 10 pages of stuff they did for us,” Gustafson
said. He’s already carried out one of their suggested experiments, placing
a nearly full bucket of water on a Paratrooper seat. Despite the seat tilting
out at an angle during the ride, none of the water spills. “They proved
their centrifugal force theory,” Gustafson said. “It’s going
to be one of our (physics day) experiments next year. Why does it do that? Well,
these kids gave us the answer for that.” Gustafson is currently designing
signs to place around the park based on the teams’ conclusions and in their
vernacular. He also will use their material in a handbook for the student field
trips.
Gustafson, who also serves as the park’s public relations director, held
a similar job with Midway Park in Maple Springs, New York, and sees the education
program as community outreach. “At the same time it helps us in dealing
with schools who have issues about field trips to amusement parks for non-educational
purposes,” he said. “We can turn the tide on that thinking. They can
call us an amusement park, but they can’t call us non-educational.”
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