Klinger Middle School's Dorney Park Trip is Filled with Fun and Science

Quick, pop quiz:

 “Talon: The Grip of Fear” ride at Dorney Park has a track length of 3,110 feet and can travel approximately 58 miles-per-hour. How long does the ride take?

For Eugene Klinger Middle School eighth-grade students, they not only can tell you the answer, but could also tell you exactly how exciting it was to be on that ride.

The middle school participates in an annual Dorney Park Science Field Trip, as a way to say farewell to eighth-grade students at the end of the school year, as well as a way to incorporate a final few science lessons.

The June 4 trip included 12 – 14 Klinger Middle School teachers and approximately 230 of the eighth-grade students. Taking at least two large tour busses, the group returned to the school by 6 p.m.

A few of the teachers remained until the end, ensuring that each student was picked up and safely on their way home. Those teachers shared that the Dorney Park Science trip is a much-anticipated day for both student and teacher.

“We loved it,” Julie Williams, Klinger eighth-grade co-science teacher, said. “We had a great time.”

According to Williams, each of the students were given a Dorney Park Science Assignment packet, filled with questions based on the class’ Physics unit. Along with exploring the park’s exciting roller coasters and other amusement rides, the students’ questions asked them to identify Physics concepts, such as speed, momentum, velocity or inertia.

“It’s one thing to talk about inertia,” Mike Dooley, Klinger Middle School co-eigth-grade teacher, said. “It’s quite another thing to feel it.”

According to Dooley, Klinger Middle School has participated in a Dorney Park Science Trip for at least a decade. He sad in the early years, the school responded to Kutztown University’s “Coaster Quest,” which invited school districts in the region to an all-day science, math, engineering and technology field trip at Dorney Park.

Dooley said, while the trip was certainly educational, it seemed a bit crowded when his school participated.

“We decided we could change it and make it our own day,” Dooley said.

Dooley said the trip is a way for the eighth-grade students and their teachers to strengthen ties to one another before having to say farewell.

“The kids see us in a different light, and we see them in a different light,” Dooley said of the science field trip. “They’re all relaxed, and they’re still learning.”

Oh, and if you’re still thinking of the answer to the above Klinger Middle School Dorney Park Science Assignment question — it’s 36.88 seconds.