Instruction

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How would you like to design your own theme park ride? While roller coasters and water slides are the reigning champions of modern parks, dark rides are always favorites, as well.  In fact, well-themed dark ride bring with them a feeling of nostalgia and intrigue.

During the 1904 World Exposition, there were a number of rides that might be classified as dark rides.  These were located in a mile-long section of the fair known as The Pike.  Read about them on these webpages:
While we're on the subject, you should check out these other attractions from the original fair in St. Louis:
Learning Intentions
  1. [Reading] Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in [theme park attractions and periods of history].
  2. [Writing] Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
  3. [Writing] Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
  4. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
  5. Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
  6. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
  7. [Science] Critical thinking and communication
  8. [Science] Basic science concepts

Success Criteria
  • Make sure every student on your team is included and respected
  • Using the selected videos and descriptions, as well as prior knowledge or experiences, identify commonalities among dark rides
  • Working effectively with a team of your peers, choose a point in Missouri history on which to focus
  • Discuss, plan, design, draw, and describe a new dark ride that has commonalities with others throughout modern history
  • Prepare and present your proposed dark ride to the rest of the class, explaining the experience it provides with a sequential description
  • When presenting your team's ride, speak with appropriate volume and clarity.
  • Think about concepts of simple machines and physics along the way
  • Answer how these rides move
At some theme parks, people often ride through scenes of their favorite Disney movies, giving them the feeling that they are inside the movies themselves. More locally, at Silver Dollar City, two classic rides are classified as dark rides:  Fire in the Hole and The Flooded Mine.  Before we go on, consider some of the rides by watching a couple of these videos below.
VIDEO     RIDE
1              The Little Mermaid at Disney's Magic Kingdom
2              Monster's Inc. at Disney's California Adventure
3              Pinocchio's Daring Journey at Disneyland
VIDEO     RIDE
4              Flooded Mine at Silver Dollar City
5              Timber Mountain at Knott's Berry Farm
6              Jurassic Park at Universal Studios Hollywood

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You and your team have been asked to design a new ride for your World's Fair 2.0.
The World's Fair committee has decided the new Pike will be completely based on events that occurred or began in Missouri.

    Before You Advance
      Always refer to the Learning Intentions and
      Success Criteria for help along the way!
Your group must do the following:
  • plan and draw the facade to your attraction, including signage
  • design and draw the vehicle in which your visitors will ride
  • decide upon and draw each scene along the course of your ride
  • describe upon any dialogue or audio visitors will hear
  • prepare and report about your ride to an audience
Remember:
  • your attraction must adhere to the theme upon which your team submitted above
  • your attraction must tell a chronological story
  • your attraction must be informative and entertaining
  • your team must work cohesively
Should we also have a modern thrill ride on our new Pike?

If time is available, we will design a nice set of coller roasters to accompany our dark rides.
Perhaps we could even add a fully-functioning Ferris Wheel to our ride collection.