The Space Center community is paying tribute to Rob Smith, who is retiring after nearly 22 years of serving as the ASD Business Administrator. Rob has always been a good friend of the Space Center. Because of his leadership and gentle arm twisting, the Space Center was able to raise the necessary funds from private donors to build the new planetarium and the funds to make our simulators what they are today.
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Rob Smith, A True Friend of the Space Center, Retires from the Alpine School District. The New Laser Show at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. The Side Effects of Space Center Volunteering. Imnaginarium Theater
The Space Center community is paying tribute to Rob Smith, who is retiring after nearly 22 years of serving as the ASD Business Administrator. Rob has always been a good friend of the Space Center. Because of his leadership and gentle arm twisting, the Space Center was able to raise the necessary funds from private donors to build the new planetarium and the funds to make our simulators what they are today.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
The Williamson's Celebrate Thanksgiving. Imaginarium Theater.
Does your kitchen look like this on Thanksgiving Day?
I'm hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our family's Feastorama was held at my niece's home in Highland. Around 65 family members attended. The upmarket family members were dressed in their fineries as if they were eating at a nice restaurant. The more practical of us (those who don't care what anyone thinks) came in our finest sweatpants with elastic stretchable waistbands.
At family gatherings like this, our family's table discussions can turn heated. We have a broad range of political affiliations in our family, especially between the older and younger generations. We have the right and left wings of the family along with those who's beliefs border dangerously close to socialism. Me personally, I'm a card carrying independent whose opinions are fine tuned to be exactly the opposite of whatever group I'm sitting with. If I'm surrounded by hard core Republicans, I preach the gospel of free health care and free education. Once the table has agreed on my heretical state and fantasize of burning me at the stake, I excuse myself to go hunting for unsuspecting tables. Usually there is a liberal - progressive conclave needing to be disturbed by my ramblings on the last rigged election and my thoughts supporting a more radical implementation of the 2nd amendment.
Do I believe what I'm saying? Most of the time I don't. I say what I say to inflame passions until all around me are frothing at the mouth and hyperventilating. It's good entertainment for myself and those who know what I'm doing. I am a connoisseur of chaos and a disrupter of the peace. "Keep 'em guessing," is my motto.
My methods also work nicely with the various religious factions in the family. We have the High Mormons, Middle Mormons, and Lost Mormons in addition to those who've converted to humanism. I have talking points for each group prepared ahead of time. Each point is guaranteed to produce a negative reaction. The response I got from the High Mormons after hearing my testimony of reincarnation was well worth the fact that I'll be excluded from certain email strings and multiple text messages in the short future. My phone will remain silent for the next little while until someone needs something from me.
When all is said and done, I remind the family that we are a loving family that respects and cherishes diversity because diverse is what this family is, like so many others in our modern world.
The special place out back and around by the chicken coop for those needing their tobacco and coffee. While I don't do either, I find these family members refreshing because they cling to the old ways from the home counties of western Montana and the Black Hills of South Dakota
Sunday, November 19, 2023
The Director of the Discovery Space Center at American Heritage School to Perform in HCT's Fiddle on the Roof. The Sweet Way to Teach Math. Mercy Strike II Debuts at The Space Place. Imaginarium Theater.
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Sunday, November 12, 2023
Happy 33rd Birthday to the Christa McAuliffe Space Center! See the Original Starship Controls. Imaginarium Theater
On November 8, 1990, ago the Space Center opened its doors to the world with a massive open house and dedication program. Hundreds of people attended. The lines to tour the Starship Voyager stretched all the way down the hallway of Central School. We filled the school's gym for the program. Our guest speaker was Senator Jake Garn, Utah's Senator who went into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.
Fast forward thirty-three years to today. Writing as the founder, I want to say thank you to the many hundreds of staff and volunteers who've worked hard over the decades to make the Space Center what it is today; and thank you to the hundreds of thousands of people who've attended a Space Center field trip, camp, private mission, class, etc. for your support.![]() |
The original paper helm station for the classroom starship Pegasus. |
I'm often asked, "How did this place [the Space Center] get started?" It's a story I've shared hundreds of times over the last thirty years. Many of you Troubadours know the story so I'll be brief.
Spring 1983. Because of a clerical mistake at BYU, my 3rd grade student teaching assignment in Springville was mistakenly given to another student. I was called into the education department office and asked if I'd be kind enough to take a 6th grade student teaching position at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove. Mr. Mike Thompson was to be my cooperating teacher. I didn't know where Pleasant Grove was but gladly took the assignment; I liked the 6th grade curriculum and the more mature students.
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My 6th Grade Student Teaching Class. Mr. Thompson is on the left. Mr. Emal (principal) on the right. This was their class picture taken in September 1982 |
Mr. Thompson asked me to teach the space science unit. Knowing this unit would make up a large part of my student teaching grade, I wanted to impress my professor with something out of the box and unusual. I decided to copy Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series and take the class out into space to witness first hand what I was teaching. Classroom computers were unheard of in the Spring of 1983 so I created poster board controls for the student's desks. I drew most of my visuals (tacticals) on overhead projector plastic 81/2 by 11 sheets and ran the simulations from behind my desk with an overhead projector. My cassette player boom box provided the music. My voice did the sound effects and different voices and accents for my main engineer, computer, and aliens.
That spring, the class and I took several voyages into space. The professor was impressed and gave me an A. Mr. Thompson enjoyed it and wrote me up a glowing recommendation. My student teaching ended with a job offer. Mr. Frandsen, the other sixth grade teacher in room 20, announced his retirement and the job was offered. The rest, as they say, is history.
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The poster board weapons and engine controls. The wear and tear speaks of the many missions and hours of fun this poster provided my students over those many years. |
The poster board controls for the USS Pegasus were easy to use. The student spoke the button's name while pushing the button. From behind my desk, I'd year the student and make the appropriate sound whilst searching through my stack of overheads for the right visual effect.
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These young Starfleet officers are in their mid early 50's today |
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Here you go, the USS Pegasus sensors station. |
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The ship's transporter station. Yes, the dials actually spin |
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The navigation station. I used water based markers to hand draw a map of the sector on the plastic covered top section. The students used rulers and protractors to plot and speak their courses. |
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One of the engineering posters for the USS Pegasus. |
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The communications poster controls. |
The Space Center's mission is the same as it was on our opening day in 1990, we work to create a space-faring civilization.
Sunday, November 5, 2023
The Space Center Celebrates Silver Perry upon his retirement from Active Duty. Skyler Carr Travels the World Spreading the Gospel of Experiential Education. Imaginarium Theater.
Silver Perry, long time volunteer and member of the Space Center's staff, retired from active duty after his final mission "Whispers," Saturday, October 28. It was a good mission to retire on. He leaves his position as Phoenix Set Director and with it a long legacy of innovations for a simulator he was devoted to.
Silver's time at the CMSC started when he was in junior high school. He was one of my Farpoint Cadets for our Voyager Club's Long Duration Mission Program. You see him in the photo on the left with his squadron on a cold Saturday morning. He started volunteering at the Space Center around the same time.
Silver had a thing for watches back then. I never knew what he would be sporting on his wrists any given Saturday. I referred to him as "The Time Lord". He was also, and remained so up until his retirement, camera shy. It was tough to get him to stop for a photo. Time Lords are like that.
In August 2018 Silver graduated to the official "Time Lord" Space Center status and was awarded his Supervisor Blues.
On August 3, 2019 Silver flight directed his first solo paid Phoenix private mission. I stopped by the CMSC to celebrate his accomplishment that day and found him briefing his crew in the Kiva.
It would be an adult crew! No worries, Silver handled it like a pro. He didn't have a second chair. Yes, the Phoenix can be flown with one staff, but with an adult crew you really need a good second chair.
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Silver ready to go solo |
I was tempted to offer my services as his second chair but knew I'd make matters worse. "The Magellan has a full staff," I said to Silver. "Let me go see if I can't wrangle someone to come in to give you a hand." Shifting staff from ship to ship was something I had to do on a regular basis during my time at the CMSC helm. I was confident someone would be willing to help.
Tyler Gotcher, who by the way is the current Magellan Set Director, offered to change ships. He didn't hesitate even though he wanted to work the Magellan 5 hour. He saw the need and took care of it.
Tyler Gotcher, Back in the day
So how do we sum up the time and dedication of Silver Perry to the Space Center? We begin by saying that he was not just an ordinary Set Director; he was an innovator of the highest order. His dedication to making the Starship Phoenix the ship it is today is for me, inspirational. He was visionary in his understanding of the Phoenix, making that small simulator a laboratory of excellence.
We can also say that Silver's pursuit of perfection was evident in every corner of the Phoenix. From the layout and use of the ship's control room to the bridge itself, Silver's attention to detail was impressive.
Silver's legacy is not just about the physical improvements he made to the ship but also the sense of camaraderie and pride he instilled in his staff and volunteers. He fostered an environment where everyone could feel as if they belonged to this great enterprise; an environment where volunteers and staff felt inspired to do their best for the ship and the Space Center.
Silver Perry's retirement leaves a void that will be challenging to fill. His innovative spirit, his pursuit of excellence, and boundless creativity set a standard that will serve as an inspiration for future Set Directors.
Skyler Carr Travels the World Preaching the Gospel of Experiential Education, the InfiniD Learning Way.
I've been SO EXCITED that we get to participate in the GESS conference in Dubai this fall (one of the biggest edtech conferences in the world). Well, that excitement just got turned up to 11 when I found out that I was chosen to present a workshop AND appear on a "Future of Education" panel.
I was invited to host a workshop at the global education conference in Dubai — which was fun because it was directly on the exhibit hall floor. This means if you make enough noise, people will inevitably be drawn to the ruckus.I’ve always been more than happy to raise a ruckus. Loved meeting so many amazing educators this week! #gessdubai #infinidlearning
Thank you #stemmena and #teachmiddleeast for inviting us to come out and share our research! We made so many new friends (truly the dearest of friends because they put up with me ranting and raving for 60 minutes on a stage).
Picture me excited screaming like a teenage girl at a Justin Beiber concert in 2009.
This week’s adventure: Dublin, Ireland!I’m introducing our technology at the IB World Conference, and it’s so fun to see their reaction when they see how we can make any lesson a ridiculously engaging group experience.Data driven experiential learning baby!
Infiniti-D Learning offers interactive STEM missions that foster classroom collaboration

“We take a science standard, we build a dramatic story around it. Something that's really exciting and fun. Something that's going to be like Magic School Bus meets an escape room on steroids,” says Brooks Heder, co-founder of Infini-D Learning.
While missions focus on STEM concepts currently, Infini-D Learning plans to expand missions into other subject areas.
In the meantime, Infini-D Learning is already garnering accolades. The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) recently named Infini-D Learning to its Emerging Partners program, and of this year’s emerging partners, it was both the judges and people’s choice award winner.
What is Infini-D Learning?
Infini-D Learning lets teachers choose from standards-aligned missions that provide students with an interactive and fun learning experience, utilizing existing classroom technology – screen displays and standard-issue student devices. The missions are designed to be the culmination of a lesson or unit. Preparing for one provides students with a goal and can help them understand why they have to learn abstract-seeming science concepts.
“We're not just talking about the water cycle, we're talking about the water cycle because we have a mission at the end of this week,” Heder says. The experience will also help the lesson stick in the minds of students.
For instance, when they use unit conversion on a mission, they’ll remember, “Oh, yeah, when those asteroids were falling toward the planet, and we had to save the planet by using our knowledge of unit conversion,” Heder says.
How Was Infini-D Learning Founded?
“We were a group of founders who didn't find complete fulfillment with the education system as it was,” Heder explains.
As an elementary school student, Heder had been inspired by an extraordinary math teacher who made learning come alive with group simulations. “He started with a boombox and overhead slides and hiding behind his desk and doing different characters, and sending his kids on these elaborate missions," he says. "That transitioned into this full kind of Disneyland-like set where kids would field trip and have this amazing group experience.”
Infini-D Learning started with the goal of recreating these kinds of experiences. Initially, they focused on field trips and missions that took place on elaborate sets. Those became an incredible success and they wanted to be able to offer the experiences to more students.
“It was like a movie set, you'd have cool lights, and spacey stuff, and steps and platforms and all these things, and that was so fun,” Heder says. He and his cofounders asked themselves if they could recreate that experience using tech that teachers and students already had access to.
Ultimately, they developed a haptic hands-on experience with a combination of classroom screens, speakers, student devices, pre-recorded music, and characters.
“We found we could get a very similar result to the set,” Heder says. “The set is really cool for the first few minutes, and then they get into the mission. What we saw with our current [offering] is that it can still reach those same levels of excitement, yet you get the scalability and the ability for teachers to implement it in an easy, simple way.”
What Else Should You Know About Infini-D Learning?
As a company, Infini-D Learning is dedicated to fighting boredom, busy work, and student isolation in education, and the missions are designed with those goals expressly in mind, Heder says. He believes the best way for teachers to learn about Infini-D Learning is to try one of the free missions with students as that will give them a full sense of its appeal.
“We built it with kids in mind,” he says. “We are really passionate about making sure the kids come first, not building a solution that the kids aren't into, that happens way too often in education. So we spent a lot of time in the classroom watching and observing and building something that the kids are crazy about.”
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