Educational

[Ckfan21]

My family and I will be visiting Disneyland for the 1st time at the end of this month. I will be taking my son out of school for 3 days - he's 14 and is in the 9th grade - his school requires a "Pre-approved Trip Request Form" to be completed stating the educational value of the trip in order for his absence to be excused.
What educational experiences can you share with me regarding the educational value of Disneyland?

Thanks for your help!!
CJ

 

[CRCrazy]

Are you going to Disneyland in CA, or WDW in Florida?

Either way - you have got SO many things that are educational!!

For WDW - you have got the science stuff covered in Animal Kingdom - they have all kinds of biological and ecological information centers throughout the park. My daughter wrote a detailed report on bats just from the info she got on the Maharajah Jungle Trek, including photos, etc.

As far as Social Studies - your son could do interviews with the CM's from the countries in the World Showcase at Epcot - there is so much these wonderful kids can share about their homes. There are also all kinds of things to do in Future World - check out all the technological advances in Innoventions, etc. It's too bad that Wonders of Life has closed, since the Cranium Command show is an excellent way of communicating the way the body systems work together - great fun, and learning too!

 

[JRLATL]

Also at WDW: The Hall of Presidents at MK and The American Experience at Epcot.

 

[laceemouse]

I would think it would be a lot harder to call DL educational than WDW, as much of the educational value is at EPCOT and AK in Florida. Either way, a kid that age would find it harder to learn a lot at either locale. We live in a very hard core school district, and by the time our oldest started middle school missing school for vacation was just no longer an option for us, there is WAY too much work to make up so we only go when school is out, but there have been a lot of threads debating this and I won't go there! If I were you, and you are set on taking this trip, I would try to also see some other sights in Cal to try to make the trip more "educational."

 

[NotUrsula]

If there is a large group of children going, Disney can (at either park, I think) give you a curriculum for them to follow, and provide a CM to go around with them and work on the exercises. Most of the material covered is math and physics, things like ride velocity and gravitational forces, etc. I don't know if there is any way to get the exercises without the CM escort; I believe that I heard that the minimum for the escorted workshop is 12 kids. I understand that it's popular with homeschoolers.

As for educational things near DL, one of the more unique is probably La Brea. Another good one that almost no one thinks of is the Port of Long Beach, which I believe is now the busiest port in the United States. You could probably write to the Port office and see if they would give him a tour. (If you've never seen one in action, a port can be a truly fascinating place. The logistics of port operations are incredibly complex, much more so than airports.)

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Originally posted by JRLATL
Also at WDW: The Hall of Presidents at MK and The American Experience at Epcot.

Perhaps as works of fiction. Aren't these the places where one gets to hear actors voicing Presidents saying words they never said?