An activity called “Project Physics, a Classroom Without Walls” was started during the spring of 2003 at the amusement park in Mirabilandia (Italy).1 Many thousands of students from Italian middle and high schools are today participating in the initiative. Under the guidance of trained tutors, they perform physics experiments on some of the attractions at the park such as the roller coaster, the Ferris wheel, and the launch towers. The students involved in the experiments can enjoy learning how to observe reality through the eyes of a scientist and to apply classroom concepts to real situations. They discuss the sensations experienced on the rides, perform measurements with traditional and computer-interfaced instruments, analyze collected data, and discuss the results in an open-air physics laboratory. This paper describes the results of one such activity.

Topics
Computer interfaces, Education, Visual system, News and events, Laboratories
1.
http://www.mirabilandia.it/scuole_it.htm.
2.
Data Collection at the Amusement Park, Appendix 11: “Accelerometers and Forces,” at http://www.vernier.com/cmat/datapark.html.
3.
Actually, the electronic accelerometer is like a dynamometer, which measures the elastic bending of a small plate due to its weight or to changes in motion. “The Low-g Accelerometer senses acceleration using an integrated circuit …. micro-machined with very thin ‘fingers’ carved in silicon. These fingers flex when accelerated. They are arranged and connected like the plates of a capacitor. … the Low-g Accelerometer also senses the effect of gravity.” From http://www2.vernier.com/booklets/lga.pdf.
4.
C. Escobar, Amusement Park Physics (AAPT, 1994).
5.
N.A. Unterman, Amusement Park Physics, A Teacher's Guide, 2nd ed. (J.Weston Walch, Portland, ME, 2001).
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© 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2007
American Association of Physics Teachers
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