For the past 10 weeks I have had the pleasure of being the student teacher to an amazing grade 4/5 combination class at Cougar Canyon Elementary. My time with the kids has been a whirlwind of exciting new learning experiences for both the students and myself. Though I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and creating lesson plans across all subject areas, there was one unit in particular that both the students and I seemed to enjoy more than normal… Amusement Park Physics.
I remember way back in October when my SA (Student Advisor) and I first met to discuss which units I would be responsible for and the feeling of utter panic when I discovered that I would be teaching physics… roller coaster physics, but physics none the less. I was scared. After some careful thought and consideration, a ton of research, and countless hours of planning I was ready to go.
My goal was to keep the unit educational, while trying to maintain a level of fun and playfulness, in order to try and eliminate as much ‘big scary science word’ anxiety as possible. My plan seemed to work quiet well- we mixed the scary physics content in with fun demonstrations, videos, student centered activities and hands on learning experiences that masked all of the ‘scary’ learning they were doing with fun and excitement.
The students were told on the very first day of our new unit that we would be learning about amusement parks and the physics behind how all of the rides worked. At this time I was also quick to let the students know that after we got all of our major learning out of the way, we would get to experience everything that we were learning about, as we would be travelling to Playland to take part in their Science Day of Fun. I also let the kids know that on top of getting to go to Playland and experience the things we were learning first hand, we would also be using what we had learned to create our very own pipe insulation roller coasters!
We started off the unit with an introductory lesson that consisted of an overview of all of the topics we would be covering in the physics unit. During this first lesson I also made sure to access the students prior knowledge with a K-W-L chart, filling in both the K (know) and W (want to know) sections leaving the final L (learned) section until our final physics lesson. The following lessons were a mixture of power point presentations, hands on activities, experiments, games, interactive websites, videos and demonstrations.
Our trip to Playland was great- we couldn’t have asked for a better day, it was sunny and warm and the students all had a blast. In the weeks leading up to the trip the students and I spoke a lot about expectations for their trip to Playland. The students were to fill out a number of surveys that allowed me to place them into ride groups with other students who were interested in similar rides/ levels of scariness. The students were also told that each ride group would be responsible for becoming an ‘expert’ for one specific ride (that was assigned to each group by myself), the students were to start off by riding this ride as many times as needed to successfully complete their ‘expert’ worksheets, once the sheets were complete the groups were free to ride any/all of the other rides in the park. Upon coming back from the trip I had the students meet with their ride groups to discuss how they might choose to teach the rest of the class about the physics involved in their particular rides. It was amazing for me to see just how much knowledge the students had retained from my lessons and even more rewarding to see them relating the different concepts that we had talked about in order to figure out how the rides worked.
The final activity of the unit was a culminating activity that challenged the students to take everything that they have learned about roller coasters and amusement park physics and put it all to the test while making roller coasters out of pipe insulation that had been cut in half. Right off the bat I was impressed with the work that the students were doing, they were all so creative and innovative- some groups making tunnels with see-through walls, some creating tunnels and arch ways out of poster paper, some including technical feats such as banking turns, loops, and jumps (to mention a few)! Not only were they putting out quality work that clearly demonstrated their understanding of how these roller coasters worked, I was shocked and surprised by just how much fun the kids were having while making them. I remember a few times I had asked if they wanted to take a break and go outside for some fresh air and in unison they all yelled “NO!”- Music to my ears! Once the roller coasters were all up and running the groups filmed their marble coasters in action using iPads all while explaining the physics behind what the viewer was seeing. Some of the groups even used iMovie and added in music and special features- very cool.
Needless to say, all of the kids aced the unit quiz and were able to add a ton of L’s to their K-W-L chart!