How a Trip to Disney© Can Enhance your Students’ STEM Learning Experiences

Beth Hedrick

My first two years of teaching (quite a long time ago!) was teaching 8th-grade physical science. Being a young teacher, pretty much right out of college, I feel it is safe to say I was scared to death. I quickly learned that it wasn’t going to be so dreadful at all, thanks to the amazingly educational and entertaining hands-on activities that were available to me. Like I said, that was a long time ago, and nowadays students have so much more experiences to encounter in their STEM learning, and one of them is taking a trip to Walt Disney World©, Epcot© or Disneyland©! Here are eye-popping and jaw-dropping STEM programs offered by the resort:

Everyday Chemistry (Walt Disney World© Florida)
Everyday Chemistry is a summer program which shows children that chemistry is happening all the time and all around them. Students learn that chemistry is an integral part of their lives by taking a closer look at the elements, molecules, and polymers work together to make up everything in our world. Students will have much more in insight as to what makes up the substances they see and use every day, as well as the benefits of those substances.

Kingdom Keepers Quest (Walt Disney World© Florida) With a name like Kingdom Keepers, this program is a hit with kids! Kids of all ages love solving puzzles and going on quests, and this program delivers in those areas. This 100% interactive activity gives students the chance to become honorary Kingdom Keepers by going on a journey which models after the popular series of books. Students find themselves navigating through Magic Kingdom© in order to reach a specific goal to complete the quest. This program allows the students to experience critical thinking skills, problem-solving, observations, visualization, mathematics, and more!

Discovering Marine Life Conservation (Walt Disney World© Florida) 
Growing up, I remember several of my friends saying that they wanted to be marine biologists. I always thought to myself, “What the heck is a marine biologist?” Sometimes, I think my friends would just say the term because it sounded so awesome. But now, with this program for middle elementary students to the middle school years, students will not be wondering what this person does for a living! As a matter of fact, they may want to decide on this career after learning about marine life. In this program, the kids will role-play marine workers that help with conservation efforts. Protecting oceans and the life within is crucial, and the students will learn the reasons why in this educational adventure.

Energy and Waves Physics Lab (Disneyland© Resort California and Walt Disney World© Florida) 
I remember being in grade school and connecting two plastic cups with a loooonnnnggggg piece of string. We would get with a partner, sit far away from each other and use this ingenious piece of technology like a telephone. This is how we learned about waves; light and sound waves alike! My heart palpitates at the thought of the programs kids have today to learn about energy and waves. Physics just got even more awesome with this physics lab, where students learn about physics and how it is incorporated into the many areas of the vacation destination!

Experiencing Synergy in Science (Walt Disney World© Florida)
I have been to Walt Disney World© twice, and my absolute favorite place of all is Epcot ©. Of course, all of this great theme park is very entertaining, and in this program, students will understand how the integration of technology and people result in spectacular entertainment.

Through an exploration of Epcot®, participants will come to understand Walt Disney Imagineering's synergistic approach in the creation of immersive entertainment experiences. They will discover that synergy is the integration of a variety of elements, including individuals and technology that communicate and cooperate with one another to ensure that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

How Things Move (Walt Disney World© Florida)
Think about all of the movement that goes on at Disney©, from the monorails to the coasters and from the waterway rides to the slides. Movement is of all types, and it is everywhere. In How Things Move, students will learn about energy’s role in motion and will discover how specific attractions work in Disney Magic Kingdom©. With gears, magnetic energy, pressure, and more, students will see first-hand how things move by inertia and centripetal force.

Properties of Motion Physics Lab (Disney California Adventure© Park and Walt Disney World© Florida)

Similar to How Things Move, this interactive educational experience will show the students’ real-time motion on the park rides. Newton’s Laws of Motion and friction, magnetism, energy forms, and gravity are all experienced here! I remember using a science lab, in a classroom, for all of my lessons. In this program, the actual theme park is the science lab! Students will acquire knowledge of speed, acceleration, velocity, potential and kinetic energy, inertia, forces, the Law of Conservation of Energy, and more. Physics just got easier to grasp by everyone in this course offering!

The Evolution of Technology (Walt Disney World© Florida) 
Adults know how evolution has evolved over time, but kids weren’t there to witness it throughout the years it was ever changing. As a matter of fact, many students of mine have no clue as to how I ever, ever made it through my teenage years without a cell phone and only the Atari 2500 as the best video gaming system ever. In this program, students will get to see how technology has evolved, and learn about each factor that played an important role in the development of technology over the years.

The Science of Disney Imagineering: Gravity (Walt Disney World© Florida) 
Gone are the days dropping a stick figure while attached to a make-shift parachute when studying gravity and Newton’s Laws of Motion. If your students had a choice between going to a fabulous theme park to dig deeper into these concepts or the latter, which would they choose? The students will enhance their knowledge of the concepts of force, mass, acceleration, weight, and, of course, Mr. Newton himself as they experience themselves in an incredible educational opportunity.

Giving students the best possible learning experiences and ones they will never forget is so important. When I think back to my days in school, my memories are laced with reflections on the Planetarium we would get to visit each year. Yep, every single year we went to the planetarium, all through middle elementary and into junior high, and I never got bored with it. This is because the science trips we took were so few and far between! Nowadays kids will grow up remembering so many meaningful experiences, and they will say to their adult friends, “Remember when we went here? Remember when we went there? Remember when we traveled all that way to there?” And chances are, even in their adult years, they will not only remember each trip, but remember the vital concepts during each adventure!

Beth Hedrick has been educating students for 22 years. She teaches in a rural southwest Virginia community that values the education of every student. She is the mother of two boys, Aaron and Landon, and is married to Todd. 

She is an advocate for Autism Awareness, as her son Landon has Asperger’s Syndrome. She has served on her community and school system’s autism support team. Beth enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her Basset Hound, Lenny. She also likes to read, write, blog, and travel in the summer months.