Learning Without Walls at Disneyland 1D Wong Kei Hong
The most effective way to learn is to experience personally the knowledge that the teacher has taught you. On 15th April, Form One students from Carmel Secondary School visited Hong Kong Disneyland to join an activity called “Learning Without Walls”. This programme gives us plenty of opportunities to gain more knowledge outside classrooms.
This time the topic was “The World of Physics”. Students learnt about different kinds of energy by using the facilities in the theme park. The Disney tutor explained some physics concepts like friction and inertia and we were given chances to do some related experiments. There was debriefing after students went on the thrilling rides.
Riding on the roller coaster, Space Mountain, students realised there wasn’t an engine in the cars. The rail brings the car to the highest point and it stores potential energy. When it starts moving downwards, the potential energy changes to kinetic energy and that is why it is accelerating. To consolidate what had been learnt, we had to design a model of roller coaster with toy tracks afterwards.
What’s more, students found out more about light energy in the Buzz Lightyear ride, and sound energy by watching a 4D cartoon movie called “Mickey’s PhilharMagic”.
It was amazing that learning could be so much fun. The programme was a great success.