Students study science at Farmingdale amusement park

As the swing rose higher in the air, Celia Earl had her eyes fixed on the bubble in the clear plastic level in front of her.

On the nearby roller coaster, classmate Kerry Moore picked her post in the back, hoping for the seat with the fastest acceleration.

They were among some 750 students from the Diocese of Rockville Centre who took over Adventureland in Farmingdale Wednesday for the first of two Technology Days - putting classroom science lessons to a real-life test.

"This makes us think more about how things work," said Kerry, 13, who, like Celia, is an eighth-grader at St. Martin of Tours School in Amityville.

Armed with question booklets and the principles of gravity, acceleration and electricity, the students hopped on a handful of rides to learn what they could.

"When they come and go on the rides, they're having fun while learning," said Norma Whitley, assistant superintendent for educational technology for the diocese. "It's a better way to reinforce what they're learning in the classroom."

Between Wednesday's session and one next week, 1,500 students from 40 diocesan schools will take part in the program.

Teachers taught the students about simple and complex machines, and how to look for G-forces at work by noting when their bodies felt heavy and light on rides.

Celia, 13, a self-described amusement park enthusiast, already had an interest in the engineering behind rides.

"It was awesome. Two of my favorite things," Celia said. "I was watching the level; the bubble was stretching to the left of the half ring as we changed direction and speed."

At the nearby Hurricane roller coaster, students explored energy and acceleration - and whether the car in the front or the back would have the greatest acceleration.

Gilbert Onu, 11, relished the Frisbee, a ride that spins in semicircles.

"I learned the scientific aspect of a pendulum and how friction and other external factors slow it down," said Gilbert, a seventh-grader at St. Catherine of Sienna in Franklin Square.

The lesson at the Long John Silver ride, which drops up and down and moves from side to side: hydraulics and force.

Michael Bauer, 12, a seventh-grader at St. Catherine of Sienna, said the experience would make him even more inquisitive in the future.

"It'll make me wonder more how the rides work," he said.

After getting off the ride, MaryKate Beglane, 13, of Saint Agnes Cathedral School in Rockville Centre, said she learned more at the park than in the classroom: "It's better than looking at the books. It's better to do it in real life so you learn better."