True Blue Australian Ingenuity

Just like the many thousands of other kiwi's freezing in this cold snap.....

I escaped our cold climate for a respite in the warmer weather of the 'Surfers Paradise' last week.

  I had a motive in that I was due to present at a conference on Bullying prevention in schools in New Zealand as part of my Doctoral study. I also used the trip as an opportunity to take my soon to be 16 year old on a birthday surprise. Unfortunately for me that meant 3 days of traipsing around theme parks. 

I was struck by the engineering feats of ingenuity that go into the design of the rides. Always a technologist and a teacher at heart I quickly saw a possible context that could draw in and engage students.

Dream World - Gold Coast

Tower of Terror - DreamWorld

Watching two (normally) placid individuals shriek and howl in absolute delight left me wonder what it was about theme parks that young people love so much..... Also who comes up with the designs and the sheer brilliance behind the design and manufacturing of each experience? 

Here is what I found....

 

Theme Park Engineer at Disney

World renound theme park designers

Designing the theme

Link to Technology NZC at level 1 NCEA ........

Possibility of conceptual design AS91046, Freehand sketches AS91063, Influential designer AS91067, Prototyping AS91047, Visual presentation AS91069. Not to mention that many rides now incorporate 4D experiences and therefore adding in components from digital technologies could be relevant.

I would be really keen to see some prototypes if anyone were keen to trial a project on this topic.

Have a look at this and I dare you not to be inspired!