The Starship Simulator Program in Venezuela to be Highlighted in Educational Journal. Renaissance Space Academy and its Awesome Summer Space Camps in Pictures. Imaginarium Theater.

Todd and a few of his students from the Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela. The posters
advertise two of the missions he tells in his Dream Flight Adventures simulator.

Experiential Education Starship Simulators to be Highlighted in October's Edition of The International Educator.

     Todd Lichtenwalter is one of the few, the proud, the chosen in the educational community. He's the teacher everyone wants because of his enthusiasm and limitless imagination.  His students at the Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela have the IKS Artemis Charger Dream Flight Adventures simulator thanks to him; and what a ship it is - the only international Voyager inspired simulator flying the Space EdVentures' flag. 

The Bridge of the IKS Artemis Charger in Valencia, Venezuela

     The IKS Artemis Charger is in the school's Education Immersion Center, I'm sure Todd's home away from home if he is like any of the rest of us who operate these brick and mortar starship simulators.  

     Recently Todd sent an email saying a paper he wrote titled To Infinity and Beyond: An Infinity Learning Space in Valencia, Venezuela was accepted to be published in October's online edition of The International Educator.  The entire article will be available at tieonline.com in October.  In the article, Todd was kind to put in this paragraph giving a shout out to the movement's history.  

   
Education Immersion Center Missions
Spaceship simulators in schools have a long history and are an excellent choice for an ILS because they encapsulate an integrated approach to learning. The birthplace of spaceship simulators dates back to 1983 with the grandfather of spaceship sims, Victor Williamson of Utah, USA. Over the years, 66 spaceship simulators, including our own, can trace their roots back to him. Mr. Williamson understood the value of 21st Century Skills long before the term was coined. 

      Over the next several posts I'll highlight sections of Todd's article (realizing our busy readers may not have the time or bandwidth to sit down and read the entire article, after all it is the start of another school year).  You'll find it insightful in how he envisions a fully functioning simulator based immersion program.  
     Learn more about Todd by visiting his website:  toddlichtenwalter.com.  You may reach Todd directly at mrl@mrlscience.com.

Victor

Renaissance Space Academy and its Great Summer Space Camps. All Good Things Must Come to an End (Until Next Summer of Course)

     With the end of summer vacation comes the end of Renaissance Space Academy's summer space camps.  Mr. Funk and staff did a fantastic job offering one of Utah's best kid's camps. And that's not just us bragging - you should read the reviews!  
     The missions were intense and thought provoking. Mr. Robinson and Mr. Vidinha's classes were engaging and inspiring, and the Academy's volunteers superb in all areas.  It was the dream team imagineering two outstanding simulators - the Voyager and the Nighthawk.
     The Space Academy is in full school year mode.  Visit the website for information on the Academy's two space clubs: The Young Astronauts for grades 4-5 and the Voyagers for grades 6-8. Expect to see a few after school computer coding classes using the GoogleCS curriculum.  And of course everyone is welcome to come to the Academy for private missions in either the Voyager or Nighthawk simulators.  Let me be more specific about the private missions.  You need to be between the ages of 9 and 109 to participate (yes we can accomodate grandma's wheelchair).  
     Visit SpaceCampUtah.org for more information or contact me at Director@SpaceCampUtah.org or Bracken Funk at Bracken@SpaceCampUtah.org for more information.    

Mr. Funk knows how to get the kids thinking while playing during their lunch recess time

Left, the Voyager's Captain listens to the crew while they take a short break to discuss the mess they're in. Right, the crew get themselves settled for Mr. Funk's brainstorming session on the best ways Not to Die in Space

Discussions end in the Briefing Room. The crew is ready for their uniforms and "transport" to the bridge

Left: the crew prepares the ship for mission continuation.  Right: This officer is either a casualty of a cowardly attack on the Voyager or had a bit too much Romulan Ale during lunch

Left: the Voyager crew works its way through the launch checklist.  Right: Mark rests his brain for a moment. Decoding
complex instructions from Fleet Command takes a toll on the young mind.

Meanwhile, the crew of the nighthawk are aboard their ship and ready for departure from the Voyager.
 

Left: Ethan double checks his controls before the Nighthawk detaches from the Voyager. Right: You can't run a
great space camp without the best trained and most intelligent volunteers in the network

Great volunteers need an outstanding staff to give them direction. Left: Spencer in the Nighthawk Control Room.
Right: Mr. Funk and Jennie deep in thought as they imagineer the Voyager Crew in and out of trouble

And then you have your indispensable tech guru. Isaac sits at Mr. Funk's Control Room Desk enjoying a
late lunch. Isaac is fantastic. He works two jobs (EMT for Gold Cross and a Springville firefighter) and goes to university.
When he's not at work or studying he stops by the Space Academy offering his expertise to keep the ships in
tip top condition. 

   
Imaginarium Theater
The Best Videoettes From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Ready to Start a New School Year. Imaginarium Theater

My first class of 6th Graders at Central.
The Pegasus was their Starship

     Where did the summer go?  I started my 37th year in education last Tuesday;  30 years at Central Elementary School and the Space Center and now starting my 7th year at Renaissance Academy.  

     I will have met my goal at the end of this school year.  I taught 6th grade full time at Central from 1983-1990. I opened the Space Center in 1990 while I was teaching 6th.  From 1990-2013 I administered the Space Center AND taught at least one period of math (before the field trips arrived). The first three years of the Space Center I taught that one period of math at the start of the day and a 6th grade history class at the end of the day. Talk about burning the candle from both ends! 

     I retired from the Alpine School District in 2013. One of my goals for retirement was to go back to full time teaching.  I wanted to teach 6th grade for another 7 years at least so I'd have 7 at the start and 7 at the end.  This will be the 7th.  Check that off the bucket list.  What happens next?  Let me get that bucket list out.  Hmmmmmm. 

          

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videoettes From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Honor's Night at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. Imaginarium Theater

Honor's Night at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

August 8, 2019

     The Christa McAuliffe Space Center held its last summer Honor's Night in the current building last Thursday. Next year's summer's end Honor's Night will be in the new Space Center and Central School.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend so must rely on what little I can scour from the CMSC Facebook site.  

     This is Mason and JJ M.  If my memory is correct I'm guessing that JJ M won overall Lord of the Votes for the summer season.  The little trophy Mason holds was given to the person with the fewest votes, at least that is what we used it for back in the day.  Or it could mean that Mason took second place.

     Congratulations to the Magellan staff for taking top simulator for 2019 summer camp season with an impressive 95.1% overall satisfaction score.  What made this even more special was the fact that this was Conner Larsen's last summer at the CMSC.  Conner is leaving Utah for North Carolina and school.  Conner was blessed to have the staff he did. All of them are gifted in the art of imagineering and all hard workers.  

     And sadly, the Christa McAuliffe Space Center says farewell to three of their best.  Conner Larsen, Lindsey Hatch, and Orion Bowers.  All three are retiring from active space service. Conner to school in North Carolina, Lindsey and Orion will be leaving for LDS missions.  Their shoes will be tough to fill.  They've been with us since they were younglings and have grown strong with the Force. 

     And of course the best summer story, by just 1/2 a percent, was Live and Let Die!  The Magellan was beat out by the Galileo!  

     Again Conner comes through at the end to teach everyone that old dogs can learn new tricks.  Conner Larsen takes the "Best Flight Director" trophy for the summer!

     Mr. Porter was pleased to award Magellan Supervisor Blues to two young men.  Tyler is on the right.  I'll get the name of the other young man and post it.   
     

     And finally Jake Hadfield and Mason Perry were both inducted into the Journeyman Guild for serving over 5 years at the CMSC.   

Imaginarium Theater
The best videoettes from around the world edited for a gentler audience