Inspiring Creative Designs with Amusement Park Rides
Technology and Engineering classes reached new heights as students designed and built amusement park rides.
Eighth graders put the coding, laser cutting, and engineering skills they’ve developed for the last three years to the test as they created original amusement park rides that spin, rotate, or move up and down. Working in small groups, students first had to decide on a type of ride. Students sketched multiple options and then chose the one they liked the best or thought they would enjoy building the most.
“We made multiple designs and sketches,” said Drin H. “We tried some of the other designs and realized they would be too complicated, so we went with something more basic like the dropper style.”
Rides could be any design or type as long as they met certain requirements, such as utilizing an Arduino programmable motor to move some part of their structure. Students worked with Arduino motors previously to learn the variety of ways they could use them in their ride designs.
“This is actual coding that they have to write,” said Mr. Matt Lugo. “They have to write it, edit it, and get it to move their ride the way they want.”
Along with motors, rides also needed to have seats for Lego mini-figures, incorporate laser-cut pieces created using Vcarve software, and utilize materials supplied in the classroom, such as cardboard, string, felt, wood, and paper. Students also had access to drills, saws, hot glue, and many other tools to help bring their designs to life.
“The 3D printed piece will be a ride operator stand,” said Olivia V. “It has a seat and a board that you can write on and an umbrella.”
Creating an original amusement park ride allowed the students to be creative communicators, problem-solvers, risk-takers, and open-minded, all learner attributes of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program at SMS.
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