Is It More Thrilling to Ride at the Front or the Back of a Roller Coaster

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.