Students will investigate the needs, emotions, and experiences of real theme park riders and technical experts in order to ground their ride designs in authentic user evidence. Through interviews, observation, literature connections, and structured empathy mapping, they will surface assumptions about thrill, safety, friendship, and loneliness and replace them with documented insights that will guide problem definition in the next phase.

Students will synthesize user interview data and literary analysis into a clear, evidence-based problem definition that guides their theme park ride design, grounding their How Might We statements in authentic user needs and physics constraints.

Students will generate, expand, and refine diverse theme park ride concepts that authentically respond to user needs and embed accurate physics principles and narrative themes, moving from divergent brainstorming to evidence-based selection of top concepts ready for prototyping.

Students will build, test, and refine functional prototypes of their theme park ride designs, applying conservation of energy and force interactions while documenting iteration decisions grounded in real user feedback and narrative intent.

Students will validate their refined theme park ride models with new users, finalize physics and narrative evidence in their digital portfolios, and present their design journey to authentic stakeholders at the Physics & Fiction Fair and formal panel pitch.