Community Experience

🎤 Rider & Engineer Interview Lab (110 min)

Effective Communication Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Self Directed Learning Content Expertise Collaboration Academic Mindset PS.2.B PS.2.A Product Assessment Core Content Community Partners Essential Question Submission Required

Students develop open-ended interview questions focused on thrill, safety, emotional experience, and memorable ride moments. An engineer visits in person while teen riders join virtually; students conduct live interviews in rotating groups and record direct quotes. The class debriefs by distinguishing observations from interpretations and identifying surprising insights about forces, safety systems, and emotional impact.

Plan day

Day 2

Duration

110 min

Grouping

Small Group

Steps

9 steps

Lesson plan

9 steps · 110 min

#	What teachers do
1	Open the lab by greeting the engineer and teen riders, reviewing respectful interview norms, and posting the focus categories: thrill, safety, emotional experience, memorable moments, forces, and motion. Students quickly revisit the essential question and identify what evidence they still need before designing a ride. (10 min)
2	In teams, students review and refine their interview questions so they are open-ended, specific, and connected to rider experience and physics ideas such as drops, turns, stopping, restraints, and speed changes. Each team assigns roles: lead interviewer, follow-up questioner, note-catcher, quote-checker, and timekeeper. (15 min)
3	Model the difference between observation and interpretation using a sample quote from a rider, then have teams practice labeling one statement as a direct observation and one as an interpretation. Students add a reminder at the top of their notes page: 'Record exact words before making conclusions.' (10 min)
4	Round 1 interviews: half of the teams interview the engineer while the other half interview teen riders in virtual breakout or station rotations. Students ask prepared questions, listen for details about bodily sensations, safety systems, rider emotions, and memorable ride moments, and record at least three direct quotes. (20 min)
5	Pause for a quick movement and reset break, then students huddle with their team to compare notes, identify one gap in their evidence, and revise one follow-up question for the second round. (5 min)
6	Round 2 interviews: teams switch interview subjects so every group gathers evidence from both the engineer and riders. Students ask follow-up questions that compare user experience with technical design choices, especially around forces, restraints, track interactions, and emotional impact. (20 min)
7	Teams sort their notes and quotes into categories on chart paper or a shared digital board: thrill, safety, forces and motion, types of interactions, emotional impact, and story/theme connections. Students star the quotes that could support their digital portfolio and future ride design choices. (10 min)
8	Hold a whole-class debrief in which teams share surprising insights and distinguish what riders felt from what the engineer explained physically. Guide students to connect interview evidence to friendship, loneliness, trust, and shared experience so the emotional arc of a ride can connect to their literature circle books. (10 min)
9	Close with an individual exit reflection: students write two interview insights they want to carry into their ride model, one remaining question, and one quote they will upload to their digital portfolio. Preview how this evidence will help define the ride concept in the next activity. (10 min)

Preparation (9 items)

Confirm the engineer visit and teen rider virtual participation, share the schedule in advance, and collect any needed permissions, links, and backup contact information.
Create and print or post an interview note-catcher with sections for direct quotes, observation vs. interpretation, forces and motion, types of interactions, safety systems, emotional experience, and design implications.
Prepare a short anchor chart or slide deck with examples of strong open-ended interview questions and weak closed questions focused on thrill, safety, memorable moments, drops, turns, stopping, restraints, and bodily sensations.
Set up the room for rotating interview stations or virtual breakout access, including visible timers, role cards, chart paper or digital collaboration boards, and a projection setup for the community partners.
Brief the engineer and teen riders on the project goals, student age group, interview format, and the need to speak in concrete, accessible language while still addressing safety systems and physical interactions.
Prepare a model mini-lesson example that shows the difference between recording an exact quote and making an interpretation so students can practice accurate evidence collection before interviews begin.
Create team assignments and role cards in advance to ensure all students participate as interviewer, listener, note-catcher, or synthesizer and to support smooth transitions during the rotations.
Prepare sentence stems for follow-up questions and discussion supports such as 'Can you say more about...?' 'What did your body feel during...?' and 'What design feature caused that experience?'
Set up a digital portfolio upload folder or LMS submission space where students can later save quotes, notes, and annotated reflections from the interview lab as evidence for the final pitch and exhibition.

Student-facing instructions

You will work with your team to interview a theme park engineer and teen riders about what makes a ride exciting, safe, memorable, and emotionally powerful. You will need your note-catcher, a pen or device, and your team role. Your job is to ask open-ended questions, listen carefully, record exact quotes, and notice the difference between what a rider feels and what an engineer explains about forces, motion, restraints, and safety systems. During the debrief, you will sort your evidence into categories and decide which ideas could shape your ride model, digital portfolio, and the story experience your ride will create.

Success criteria

You know you are successful when your team has: interviewed both the engineer and teen riders; recorded at least 6 accurate direct quotes total, including at least 2 from each interview source; identified evidence connected to forces and motion and types of interactions; correctly separated at least 2 observations from 2 interpretations; sorted notes into the class categories; and selected at least 1 quote and 2 design insights to carry into your digital portfolio and next ride design step.

Facilitator notes

Keep the pace brisk and visible with projected timers so both interview rounds stay balanced. Encourage students to prioritize follow-up questions over reading a long list. A common pitfall is students summarizing instead of capturing exact language; interrupt early to remind them to record direct quotes first and interpret later. Another common pitfall is asking only preference questions such as 'What is your favorite ride?' without probing for why; use sentence stems to push toward evidence about speed changes, drops, turns, stopping, restraints, bodily sensations, and emotional impact. Differentiate by giving some students pre-selected question stems, a partially completed note-catcher, or a defined speaking role before rotating into more demanding tasks. Support quieter students by assigning them as follow-up specialists or quote-checkers, then inviting them to share one strong quote during the debrief. Push advanced students to compare rider perception with engineering explanation and identify contradictions or design tensions. During the whole-class discussion, explicitly connect rider trust, fear, companionship, isolation, and shared excitement to the friendship and loneliness themes from literature circles so the ELA and physics work remain integrated. Save time at the end for individual reflection because those notes can become portfolio evidence and support the next phase of defining the ride concept.

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