My Students Prepare for War. The Story of Experiential Education at Work in my 6th Grade Classroom. The Imaginarium Theater

My Classroom's Roman Emperor during our Rome Unit

     Those of us in the Space EdVentures community know the importance of experiential education. It is our field of expertise. It is what we do with our spaceship simulators and simulations.  I started using simulations during my student teaching at Central Elementary in 1983.  We used poster board control panels for starship controls. I played the main computer and all characters sitting behind my desk with overhead projector.  My use of simulations went beyond my fictional starship.  I created historical simulations which ran through most of the school year.  These simulations included

1.  World War One living through the Russian experience.

2.  The Russian Revolution of 1917.

3.  The Weimar Republic of Germany

4.  The rise of the Nazi party and World War II

5.  Post World War two and the rise of communism.

     Even today former students of mine will stop me in a store or send an email telling me how much they learned and enjoyed those simulations.  Students like Kenny Packer, who sent the following message over Christmas.

Kenny Packer as the Russian Tsar with Prime Minister Ryan Tingey (1988) and  Kenneth Packer and wife today in Russia
   

Your classroom was inspiring.  This was the beginning of my interest and love for Russia my career path in instruction, and my self awareness that power can corrupt. I’ll never forget the day you gave me a choice to keep the power after the simulated revolution or give it away to Ben Gurr who was playing the role of Lenin. Having tasted what it felt like to have everyone in the room stand up when you entered etc. I broke from the history you were trying to teach and said I wanted to keep the power for myself.  Thank you for teaching us beyond just facts and figures. Your gift for teaching is something I will spend a lifetime trying to learn and replicate.

     Today I teach 6th grade world history and math in addition to running the Young Astronauts Club at Renaissance Academy. I take my daily 50 minute history period and break it into three segments. The largest block of time is spent learning ancient history. We're currently studying ancient Rome.  A smaller portion of time is spent discussing current world affairs.  The last time segment is reserved for modern history.  In modern history the class is moving its way crisis by crisis to summer 1914 and a historical flash point in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina.   

      As you can see in the two photos below, there are troubles brewing in the Balkans.   

     My class is playing Russia's part in the build up to World War I.  We are currently working our way through the Russo/Japanese War. That war sets the stage for WWI. Newspapers go up nearly every day outside my classroom on the door and on the doorway.  My students know to read the news as they arrive.  This sets up the class discussions for that day. The photo above is from last year's class.  They were on the verge of war.  

                This year's news is seen above and below. 

 

     Tyler is one of my 6th grade students and plays the role of the Russian Czar.  The job was his because he had the highest history grade average at the end of the second term.  The ambassadorships and banking jobs are given out the same way - to those with the highest history GPA's at the end of the second term.

The current class government officials

     The ambassadors fly their nation's flags on their desks during both history and math class.  

     They never know when a message may come in from their country.  Diplomatic mail is placed on the whiteboard as it comes in.  

     The messages are written in that country's language.  The ambassadors use Google translate to translate the messages into English for the Czar and class to hear.  

      Czar Tyler has many problems to solve.  He is moving Russia's Baltic Fleet around the world to attack Japan.  The fleet is old and badly in need of repair. Fueling his ship with coal is another problem.  Most nations won't supply coal to the Russian fleet.  He will be forced to negotiate with his cousin, the German Kaiser, for coal to be purchased as the fleet rounds Africa.  

Czar Tyler's Declaration of War Against Japan

     To keep the simulation as real as possible I operate a class economy. Students earn class money for their grades in math and history, their weekly progress reports, and from small side businesses they operate. One entrepreneurial student sells soda from his locker at lunchtime.  

     Czar Tyler earns money to operate the government, pay his officials, and run a war by taxing the classes.  All 83 sixth graders pay their share to keep the system working.  They soon learn fighting a war can be expensive.  Often they have little cash left to spend on Friday treats (pastries, cookies, cupcakes, rolls, and croissants I supply every week)  after taxes.  Soon they grow restless and dare I say "revolutionary" - which leads to more headaches for the Czar. The ambassadors are exempt from taxes but must pay rent and utilities for their embassies.

   The Czar, Prime Minister, and Bankers sit at a set of desks in the back corner of the room under the Russian Imperial flag. The bankers are responsible for the imperial finances.  Financing a war can be stressful.  Currently most of the Pacific fleet is non operational because of a superior Japanese naval force. 
     Currently the class is desperately trying to raise funds to rebuild the nation's navy.  The Imperial Bank prints class money.  I use photocopied money collected during my world travels. 

     

     My job is to keep the simulation as true to history as possible. Instead of reading history, my students live it, and by doing so they gain an understanding as to WHY things happen and not just WHAT happened. 

     I started doing the historical simulations at Central  Elementary School in Pleasant Grove in 1983. They ran every year until I opened the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center in 1990. 

The British Prime Minister's office. Room 20. Central Elementary School
 1985

The disappearing German population. The class was playing Germany's role in the start of World War II. 

Jesse was the German Chancellor during the German Weimar Republic.  He couldn't stop hyperinflation from
destroying the savings of most of the students in the class.
1985

     A darkness will soon descend on the classroom as time carries us to 1914.  Hard lessons will be learned and fortunes lost.  Such is the way of things. Such is the glory of experiential education. 

Mr. Williamson  

Imaginarium Theater

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

  

Jon Parker Celebrates 17 Years at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center and Proclaimed "Keeper of Memories". From the Archives "Honor's Night and Mr. Williamson Bribed". Imaginarium Theater

Jon Parker celebrated his 17th anniversary at the Space Center on Saturday by wearing one of his first volunteer shirts - the Burgundy.  You don't see many Burgundies on people's backs these day.  It was a shirt style that lasted a while until I got tired of the color and decreed that from henceforth all volunteers would wear black.  The policy is still in effect. 

For my benefit, Jon recreated one of his earliest memories as a young volunteer all those years ago.  He wore the Burgundy on Saturday knowing I would be flying the Cassini's morning mission. He sat in the Cassini's IIFX position (second chair) and cowered in his seat while looking at me with fear and dreading.  Would Mr. Williamson yell at him for missing a video clue?  Would he be berated for not pausing the video fast enough or backtracking to rid the screen of the VCR video pause lines?  Would he get the infamous Mr. Williamson's hand slammed down on the counter top.  YIKES, was I really that bad when flying the Voyager?  I guess I was sometimes, and I emphasis the word 'sometimes'.  Hey, I was under enormous stress those 23 years I directed the Space Center.  

Jon's computer desktop runs a timer program.  He has it programmed with his Space Center milestones.  It is almost like he's tracking his days in purgatory, counting up so when he meets his maker in the next life he can prove he paid for his sins while on Earth.  

In honor of Jon's 17 years at the Center, I proclaim Jon Parker the Keeper of Memories.  Jon remembers nearly everything from his 17 years at the Center, and constantly reminds me of things I'd forgotten long ago. The Space Center's history is locked firmly in his memory banks, at least everything from the last 17 years.  Before that, we must rely on the aging memories of our senior friends but not me. I am the official "Forgetter of Memories".  The floppy disks I operate on are spinning on 1/2 speed at best.  

Congratulations Jon on your 17th anniversary!  So Say We All.

The First Image of a Solar System Other Than Our Own Has been Released

"It is at this time I would like formally declare sole ownership of aforementioned solar system, and everything in it, under the universal law of "dibs". For all time, in perpetuity. Excluding any debt it may have incurred, that's E.T.'s responsibility.
It shall henceforth be known as Boogerville, it's flag shall feature The Bird...figured predominantly on a field of azure" 

I wanted to lay claim to the system as my domain but was beat to the post by the gentleman who wrote the claim above.  Rest assured, I will be ready to lay claim to the next one announced.  

Mr. Williamson

From The Troubadour's Archives.  Ten Year Ago This Week at the Space Center.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2012

Mark and Logan Honored and Mr. Williamson Caught Accepting a Bribe from a Fan.

Space Center Fans Waiting outside the Center deliriously hoping to catch a
glimpse of Mark and Logan. Mark and Logan are the Space Center's
newest teen idols after receiving their awards on Saturday.

Hello Troops,
Celebrity is a burden many of our volunteers carry after being honored at one of the Space Center's post Overnight Camp meetings.

"Before today I was just, well you know - Mark," Mark said after receiving both his Odyssey and Galileo Pins. "Listen to those screams. How am I going to get home in one piece?"

Mark receiving his Odyssey Pin from Christine, Odyssey's Set Director

Mark getting his Galileo Pin from Ben Murdock. Stacy, The Galileo Set Director, was absent.

Stacy was on the program to award a Galileo Pass Pin to Mark. However, at the appointed time Mark had no choice but to accept the award from Ben Murdock. Stacy was unable to get to the meeting. Crowds of Mark and Logan's admirers, along with Pleasant Grove's paparazzi, filled the parking lot and blocked every entrance into the school.

Luckily one of the younger volunteers saw Stacy's head bobbing up and down over the crowd near the flagpole while watching Mark and Logan's screaming fans from the school's front doors.

"Mr. Williamson!" the volunteer shouted from the foyer. "I see Stacy near the flagpole. She can't get through the mob."

I looked for myself. The volunteer was right. Stacy's green flight director shirt was spotted in the sea of delirious teenage fans. I organized a posse of older staff and volunteers to push their way through the crowd to collect her.

"It's a madhouse out there," Stacy said breathlessly after having been half carried, half dragged into the school. We sat her down on one of the foyer's benches with a cup of hot cocoa. Erin put a blanket around her shivering shoulders. She apologized to Mark for missing the awards. Mark understood. He knew her experience was soon to be his when his ride home arrived to collect him.

"Am I in time to give Logan his Galileo Award?" Stacy asked.

"Are you up to it?" I asked.

" I am," she replied. "Logan worked to hard for me to delegate this to someone else. I'll push through the pain. Help me up."

We helped her stand and walk to the Discovery Room.
"Stacy's here," a voice shouted.
Applause rang out when she walked through the classroom's door. Stacy stopped for a moment to accept the staff and volunteers' appreciation of her harrowing ordeal before walking to the front of the room to meet Logan.

"There's hundreds of screaming girls out there calling out your name," she said while pinning the pin on Logan's lanyard.

"Welcome to my life," Logan responded. "How to you think I got these?" Logan held out both arms. Partially healed scratches covered each arm from elbow to hand. " Your life is no longer your own once word gets out you're going to get a Space Center award."

"Amen!" shouted many of the gathered staff and volunteers - each having lived through their own ordeal of getting an award.

Stacy Awarding a Galileo Pin to Logan.

I stood and made an announcement after Mark and Logan were honored .

"Troops, today we say goodbye to one of our own who will be leaving for an LDS mission to Argentina." I paused to let the news sink in. Everyone in the room stared at Abram. Abram waved from his chair in the back of the room.

"Abram, we have a card for you and a small gift." I called Abram to the front to receive everyone's gratitude for a job well done.

Abram started at the Space Center while in junior high. Over the years I was impressed with his can do attitude and good naturedness with the students, staff and volunteers. They don't come better than Abram. We all wish him the best in Argentina.

Thank you Abram!

Isaac bearing a Brib... hummm a "gift"

And finally a confession which could land me in a spot of trouble. Last Thursday a young man named Issac arrived with friends to attend the Phoenix's Open Mission, flight directed by none other than the Space Center's very own Dave Daymont.

Isaac walked up to me while I was seated at my desk and slipped me this note. Attached to the note was real American money. Yes, I'm talking about real American money - none of that phony Canadian stuff. On the note he'd written that he was a regular reader of The Troubadour and had read how easy it was to bribe me with a Diet Mt. Dew. The note went on to say that the cash was to be used for a Diet Dew.

I say this could land me in a spot of trouble because of my position as an employee of the Alpine School District - a government organization. We don't take kindly to the bribing of government officials in this republic of ours, so I hesitated to accept the card and money. But in the end I confess to accepting the "gift". How could I turn down such a heartfelt offer from a young Space Center fan. I only hope the judge feels the same way if any of you turn me in to the authorities.

Now let me emphatically repeat that giving gifts to government officials is frowned upon in our American culture. However, until our elected leaders in Salt Lake and Washington decide not to accept all the freebies showered on them by lobbyists and political action committees, I'll feel perfectly fine accepting the occasion soda from a well wisher wanting to grease the palm of someone who could make or break his simulator mission :)

Thanks Isaac. The Diet Dew was delicious and thank you for being a regular reader.

Mr. Williamson

Imaginarium Theater

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

Honors Night at the Space Center. Training New Flight Directors. Intolerance - The Story That Lives On and On and On and On..... Imaginarium Theater

Honors Night at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. January 13, 2022

     Honor's Night was held on Thursday, January 13 at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  Honors Night is the Space Center's way of celebrating the accomplishments of its staff and volunteers.

Tabitha Ricks welcomed everyone to Honors Night.  Tabitha is the Space Center's volunteer coordinator.  The first to be mentioned were the Center's newest volunteers.  

Kayden, Mitch and Rylan were honored for getting their Galileo pass.

Cecily and Mitch were honored for getting their Odyssey pass.

Natalie Anderson presented the pins and took great pride in presenting them to the congregation.  

Aaron, Mitch, and Henson were presented their Magellan pins for completing the requirements to get the Magellan pass.  Connor Larsen in the Magellan's Set Director. He attended the meeting remotely from North Carolina.  

The newest members of the Apprentice Guild received their patches for volunteering 500 hours.  

Jackson received his Hitchhiker patch for volunteering 1000 hours.

Tyler joined the ranks of Journeyman by surviving 5 years at the Space Center

Audrey Henriksen receiving praise from Mr. Porter

Two ancient souls joined the Time Lords at Honor's Night:   Scott Wiltbank and Audrey Henriksen

Matt Ricks was honored for his ten years of service at the Space Center.  Matt and Tabitha met at the Space Center and married.  They are expecting their first child in February.  Matt works as a computer programmer for a day job, which pays him enough so he can continue to volunteer his time and talents at the Space Center as the Engineering Guild Master and Planetarium Navigator.  You can never say enough good about Matt Ricks.  He is an old soul who is on his last incarnation in this mortal form.  I'm grateful for all the help he has given me over the last 10 years.  He is a friend to all. 

Emma and Cecily were both welcomed as new members of staff.  Emma works as a planetarium navigator.  Cecily works as a Magellan supervisor and is training to become a flight director

Katie Young will be retiring from space service soon.  She is an Odyssey flight director and Cassini supervisor.  Mr. Porter presented Katie with her space pillowcase as a retirement gift.  

Mr. Porter was happy to present Tyler and Wes with their Flight Director Blues.  Both are newly minted Magellan Flight Directors.  They are official now and no longer have to wear their Supervisor Blues when they fly the Magellan.  

Jon Parker with Micah Clegg

And finally, an old face from the past has returned to the Space Center family.  Micah Clegg is the son of Aleta Clegg and grew up at the Space Center working beside his mom.  Micah has returned to space service and made his first Honors Night appearance in many years.  I caught Micah and Jon after Honors Night sharing memories of the good old days.   

There was another new honor given at Honors Night that I won't mention here.  The Honor, and the recipient, will be highlighted in next week's Troubadour. 

Mr. Williamson

Training New Flight Directors.  It is What We Do.

Livy Charles in the Voyager's Flight Director's Seat surrounded by her Space Tech crew.

Mr. Funk is giving the "good job but not a pass" thumb sign.

     Training new flight directors is an ongoing process at the very heart of our Space EdVentures community. New flight directors come onboard having learned their trade from experienced flight directors who retire to find life outside the control room.  

     The art of flight directing can trace its origin back thousands of years to the first storytellers who employed vocal history as the way they passed their tribe's history from generation to generation.  The young learned by listening to and memorizing the stories. 

     Today we celebrate the training of new flight directors by highlighting someone in the process.  Please meet Livy Charles (pictured above).  Livy trains under the watchful eye of master storyteller Bracken Funk at The Space Place in Lehi, Utah.  She did her first test flight on Friday.  A few middle school students from Renaissance Academy's Space Tech Class made up the crew.  Space Tech students learn the science and art of simulators in education as an elective class. 

      She flew "Iron Curtain".  The mission went well but as you see with Mr. Funk's thumb signal, not a pass.  That's to be expected - it was her first solo test flight.  

     The Troubadour salutes all of you who are training to become flight directors. Learn your stories well and continue our traditions.....

Intolerance, The Story that Goes On and On and On....

Rool in the Voyager's Sick Bay having just been beamed aboard

Intolerance is one of the oldest missions told at the space centers in Utah County.  I wrote the mission in the 1990's as a field trip flight for 5th grade classes.  Fifth graders in Utah study US history. Slavery and the Civil War is part of the curriculum.  The mission was successful from its first telling and has remained so all these years later.  

Rool on the Voyager's Bridge helping the 5th grade Dragon squadron

learn his language so they can communicate. 

      Today, the escaped slave Rool makes weekly appearances at The Christa McAuliffe Space Center as part of their field trip and private mission programs.  Intolerance is also told at Renaissance Academy's The Space Place and American Heritage's Space Center as part of the schools' Young Astronaut / Voyager Club simulator club curriculum.  At The Space Place the story is told to the 5th grade squadrons in an 8 month long LDM mission. At American Heritage, 5th grade students do the mission in one full school day field trip to their own space center. 

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience.