It’s no surprise that Disney has products out there JUST for education, given their relationship to children worldwide.  What you might be surprised about is the number of educational products that Disney offers, and how they might be used in your classroom.  One of my current favourites from Disney for students is their Science of Imagineering “Roller Coaster Ride Builder,” an interactive game that teachers about physics.  My first thought to this was that it had already been done, via Roller Coaster Tycoon, another game in which users build rides; however, Disney has gone a few steps further by building a game that runs on any operating system (Mac users rejoice), and it includes licenses for 100 student users, making it $19.99 for 100 students, versus the $2999 it would cost for the same number of users for Roller Coaster Tycoon!

How to use “Roller Coaster Ride Builder” in your classroom:

This isn’t just an instructional time-filler.  This interactive game teachers and reinforces principles of physics, including trajectory, laws of motion, gravity and friction.  It isn’t necessarily for students over the age of 12, but as I’ve noticed with even my most senior students, a game is a game is a game.  By far my favourite part of this interactive ride builder is in its sharing capabilities.  Students using the program can share their creations with one another, and their access code tracker makes it easy for you to track their process.  You can download the teacher guide here for more information.

Visit Disney’s Education homepage to learn more about Science of Imagineering: Roller Coaster Ride Builder.