Lagoon encourages students in science with Physics Day at the park
FARMINGTON — High school and middle school students from across the state arrived at Lagoon Friday to learn more about physics. To prepare for the trip, each student works on some type of project in class and presents it fair-style at the amusement park.
Physics Day has been going on for over 35 years, and more students participate each year. What began as a way to get students involved in science, physics and technology has evolved to become a favorite student and faculty activity.
'It's not a hard sell,' Utah State University physics department representative JR Dennison laughed. 'The students come up with their projects all by themselves. … A lot of them spend weeks working doing this. They learn a whole heck of a lot.'
Multiple events happen throughout the day, including the ride presentation. Each student team was tasked with making a mockup of a potential Lagoon ride. The tricky part came in figuring out the science of how the ride would work in reality. Students spent weeks working on dioramas — painting, decorating, thinking of themes and most of all, figuring out the logistics of how it could work.
George De St. Jeor and Matea Peterson from West Point Junior High School created a ride inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' painting. The girls spent hours researching and creating their final project.
'We both really love art and so we wanted to do a story-themed ride,' De St. Jeor said. 'We had to make sure that it had enough inertia and friction to work in the real world.'
Peterson joked, 'It was very hard, and it is only made out of paper. I'm sure in real life it would be even worse.'
The kids also had the unique opportunity to build a robot and participate in a robot sumo wrestling competition. Students built, programmed, and ran the robots to find the champion.
'A guy named Jeff, who works at the Air Force, came and helped us. From experience, we learned how to make this,' said one bot-fighting student, Emmyr Suarez. 'We can knock down other robots.'
One of the main events allowed students to take an egg-drop device on the sky-ride and drop it from the highest point on the ride. Students went one after another, dropping eggs as they rode along the track. Other students helped gather the machines on the ground to determine whose egg survived.
In addition to the young students, professionals in the field and college students presented their work with interactive presentations and demonstrations. Ethan Wayland, a current USU student, showcased his team's work on making satellites.
'The last satellite we made was only 10 centimeters, which is really small,' Wayland said. 'I love coming to these kinds of events and talking to kids. Especially with a range of ages, it is fun talking to elementary and high school kids. A lot of them are interested in space, so it's cool to talk with them and connect about it.'
The day at the park aims to promote careers in STEM and encourages students to engage in hands-on learning.
'The critical thinking of physics is learning to look at something and think your way through it,' Dennison said. 'It's absolutely essential in every direction you can take in life.'
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