The Staff of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center Gather for a Summer Planning Breakfast. My Students Transition to a European Parliamentary Democracy and are About to Learn Some Hard Lessons in Life. Imaginarium Theater

     Saturday, May 7th.  The staff of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center gathered for an early, pre-private mission breakfast. The fixens were good; sausages, waffles, fruit, bagels, and scrambled eggs.  

     Gone were the old staples of a Space Center breakfast; Gogurts, Tampico, and nearly all you could eat Walmart glazed donuts. The Space Center has come a long way. 

 

     A television was brought in to ensure the younglings had a screen to stare at just in case face to face conversation led to awkward pauses.  Old cartoons from their collective childhoods was on the line up.  

     Matt and Tabitha Ricks made it a family outing by bringing their young daughter.  There was a sea of outstretched arms wanting to hold her.  She represented the next generation of Space Center volunteer.    

     It was good seeing Jon Parker doing something other than flight directing the Cassini.  He has proven once again that he is definitely NOT a one trick pony.  On a side note, the scrambled eggs needed more salt, but I'm not one to complain :)  On another side note, I would have paid good American money (not that phoney Canadian stuff) to see Jon in a hair net as he scrambled the eggs.

     Mr. Porter conducted a staff meeting after breakfast was cleared away.  The Space Center is preparing for a busy summer camp season.  James wore his summer shorts to set the proper atmosphere for the occasion.  

     The staff and volunteers of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center and The Space Place at Renaissance Academy are offering a nice assortment of summer space camps.  Visit their websites to learn more:  SpaceCenter@alpineschools.org and

SpaceCampUtah.org. 

The Art and Science of Experiential Learning.  My Class Transitions to Post World War I Germany 

      My 6th Grade history classes completed our World War I / Absolute Monarchy simulation and retired our beloved Czar Tyler.  He did a great job getting us through the Russo/Japanese War and getting us into World War I as Russia.  On Monday the students arrived to see the room transformed into post World War I Germany.  

The new doorway sign as you enter my classroom

The Flag and Signs Behind the Chancellor's Desk in my classroom

     This unit has a couple objectives.  1) Students participate in a European style parliamentary democracy.  2)  Students learn economics through the hyperinflation soon to befall them - the same hyperinflation that decimated the German mark during the Weimar Republic. 3)  Students will understand the how and why of the rise of fascism and nationalism and the reasons for World War 2. 

A few of the morning newspapers greeting the students when they arrive to school 

     Of course, this simulation runs in the background of our normal history curriculum. We are learning about the Aztec, Incas, and Mayans right now and next week will introduce the Reformation.  

     A parliamentary democracy needs political parties.  My classes created two parties: The German Innocents and The German Destiny Parties.  Elections for the nation's Reichstag were held on Thursday.  The students spent Monday - Wednesday campaigning.  Preparing yourself, there was a good deal of mudslinging going on in the campaign. Politics can be a dirty business.           

     The results of Thursday's elections were given in Friday's newspaper. One member of each party counted the votes and did the percentages (great way to teach math, right).  

     A new government will form on Monday.  This government will be tasked with honoring the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Good Luck in that!  Who says learning history is boring???

     

Imaginarium Theater

This Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Behind the Scenes: The Telling of the 5 Hour Mission Silhouette on the Starship Voyager. Perfection in the Art and Science of Space EdVentures. Imaginarium Theater.

The Starship Voyager was busy with public missions on Saturday.  A prom group occupied the starship Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon was reserved for an adult group wanting the Voyager experience. The group was made up of space edventure enthusiasts. They are regulars at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. Saturday was their 2nd visit to the Voyager for a 5 hour mission. 

Going on a Bracken Funk and Megan Warner Voyager mission is to experience perfection in the art and science of space edventuring.  While I pioneered and perfected this form of techno-storytelling over the last 38 years, I proudly admit there are some practitioners who have mastered the art and science of space edventuring far beyond my capabilities.  These folks are master storytellers, excellent actors, and encouraging supervisors. In addition to those things, a master in the art and science of Space EdVenturing is someone who can also write and produce outstanding missions. It is a person with the skills to render a mission into usable Thorium script and illustrate it with eye catching tactical screens.  

Bracken Funk is such a master.  Put him in the flight director seat with the great Megan Warner to see the Voyager's dream team in action. Adding a reliable and talented staff of supervisors and volunteers is the next ingredient to a perfect mission. With everything in place, sit back and watch the magic happen.     

The Voyager's Volunteers prepare for Saturday's 5 hour mission. Mark (seated center) is the chief supervisor of the crew.  He is also today's stage makeup artist.

The Voyager's volunteers and supervisors are mostly Renaissance Academy students and former students who've entered high school.  All but a couple of the volunteers pictured above are in the school's SpaceTech class.  SpaceTech is a one period class taught during the school day for credit to our 7 - 9 graders.  In Space Tech students learn the philosophy of Space Edventuring along with both the art and science of the discipline.  Students learn how to write missions, how to script a mission in Thorium, stage makeup, set design, graphic illustration, and more.  

Silhouette is under way with Bracken at FD and Megan at IIFX.  

Mr. Robinson is preparing to play the lead in the mission.  He is the school's middle school history, speech, and debate teacher.  He co-teaches SpaceTech with Bracken.  

The Voyager Control Room, the nerve center of the largest Space EdVenture simulator in the network.  The Voyager consists of a large bridge, a separate sick bay room, a separate engineering room, a transpod, a brig, and four hallways.  

The Mission Photo Gallery

Lincoln is keeping the seat warm for Megan.  Megan played an admiral in the story and needed to pay occasional visits to the bridge

Bracken and Megan visit the bridge in character (President and Admiral) 

to question the captain

Jackson, one of our school's 9th graders, played the role of the Admirals Assistant.

With the pleasantries completed, the captain asks the president 

if he'd like a tour of the ship.

The staff and volunteers monitor the mission through CCTV cameras

The control room fridge is a necessity, especially on a long 5 hour mission.

Lincoln prepares to take the supervisor position on the bridge. Voyager bridge supervisors wear referee stripes. Visiting crews are taught that the person in stripes is the helper when needed and the referee whenever the phasers are used in battle

The volunteers are armed and ready to enter the bridge as space marines

The Voyager's bridge map

Presenting a short video showing the staff at work on yesterday's mission

A great time was had by all.  If you would like to learn more about booking a group mission and / or would like to learn about summer space camps on the Voyager please visit the web site:  TheSpacePlace.org.  

Imaginarium Theater

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

   

The History Kept Alive in the Simulator Control Rooms. The 6th Grade Dragons Earn the Highest Score for Their Long Duration Mission this Year. Imaginarium Theater

     Space EdVentures is the term I use to describe the art and science of teaching through the use of simulators and simulations.  There are five Space EdVentures centers in Utah County - Christa McAuliffe Space Center (the mother center) The Space Place (Renaissance Academy, Lehi) Lions Gate (at Lakeview Academy, Saratoga Springs), Telos Discovery Space Center (Telos Academy, Vineyard) and Canyon Grove Academy.  

     Each Space EdVentures Center has at least one functioning simulator AND each simulator has a Control Room.  Most, if not every, control room is also a historical time capsule for its simulator.  Within those control rooms are little things that speak of the simulator's history.  Little things which record something about the people who spent so much of their lives playing the Great Wizards of Oz behind the curtain.Today, The Troubadour starts a new series focused on the history displayed in Space EdVentures' control rooms.  We start with the Phoenix. 

The Starship Phoenix.  The Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  Set Director - Mason Perry.

Mason at the Phoenix Controls

     Last Saturday, as I prepared the Cassini for a five hour early Saturday mission, Mason invited me into the Phoenix's Control Room to show me the restored Phoenix panel.  

     The panel was hung next to the Phoenix's second chair station.  I recognized it on first glance but couldn't place where I had seen it before.  Mason saw my confusion and filled in the details. "That's the panel that hung in the old Phoenix Control room above the second chair station."  It came back to as he spoke. I knew exactly what he was talking about.   

The Panel as Seen in the Old Phoenix's Control Room

     That panel filled the window I had built into the Phoenix simulator. The window was originally to hold an interactive map allowing the crew to track intruders.  That idea didn't work.  In its place I put a backlit panel

The Phoenix's backlit panel

     The panel had one flaw, it was designed for the Voyager.  Look closely and you'll see a galaxy class starship.  Poor Phoenix, it was a simulator in search of an identity.  In my defense, I needed something to occupy that space until something else could be created.  

     Luckily that something showed up in 2008 thanks to Matt Long, Alex Anderson, and Megan Warner.  A new DS panel was built and installed.  

Alex, Matt, and Megan showing off the Phoenix's New DS Panel

     The back of the panel looked like this

     And covering the panel's back - the signature panels and a piece of Phoenix history which will always be a part of the simulator's control room.

     The names painted on the back of the panel are people who played a significant role in the Phoenix's history.  

     Bracken F.  Bracken Funk is now the director of The Space Place at Renaissance Academy.  He and I work together to staff the school's Young Astronauts and Voyager Clubs. The Starship Voyager is his baby.  

     Casey V.  Casey Voeks is the co-founder of InfiniD Learning.  InfiniD classroom simulations are used in schools throughout Utah and other states.  

     McKay H.  McKay Harding is a computer programmer and cyber security specialist for Zion's Bank.  He is a lifelong space center supporter and helps me with computer classes from time to time at Renaissance Academy.

     Sam B. I believe that stands for Sam Brady but I could be wrong.  I'll wait for someone who knows to fill me in.  

     Jon. Jon Parker is the Space Center's Assistant Director and Cassini Set Director 

     Megan.  Megan Warner was the Space Center's Director from June 2013 to June 2014.  The Phoenix was Megan's pride and joy.  She currently works with Matt Long in the film equipment rental business and is Bracken Funk's right hand person for private missions on the Voyager.  

     Dave.  Dave Daymont was the Phoenix Set Director for several years.  Dave works for the Alpine School District as a on site IT technician for several elementary schools.    

     Jordan.  Jordan Foutin.  Jordan flew the Phoenix for a year or two.  Jordan is the CEO of Stormteam Simulations.  

     Alex.  Alex Anderson is the creator of Thorium.  Alex and his wife live in Boston where he works as a computer programer.  

     A reminder that the Phoenix opened in 2005.  

     And finally, the Latin motto. It translates to, "By the Sword We Seek Peace, but Peace Only Under Liberty". 

     There are a few retired and current Phoenix flight directors whose signatures are missing from the panel:  Jordan Smith, Miranda, Lissa, Scott and Mason - the current set director.  The signatures will be added over time. 

     There are a couple of other historical items (or will be historical items over the years) in the Phoenix Control Room.     

1.  The Picture of Megan Warner.  It has been in the Phoenix since 2013.  The mission Silhouette was flown in the Phoenix during the supers of 2013.  In the story, Miranda's doctor character was a big fan of Megan's Admiral character. At lunch Miranda (in character) would go up to Admiral Megan and ask for her autograph.  This was the prop used in the story.

2.  The pirate duck.  The pirate duck is the mascot to the Phoenix's first 5 hour mission in the new building, "Finding Libertalia".    

3.  Katie Young's "This is Fine" chick-phoenix in flames drawing done with expo marker.  This drawing has a longevity problem given the medium used in its creation.  Katie Young drew the phoenix / chick after commenting that the Phoenix whiteboard was boring.  She told Mason that he'd better keep it there in pristine condition until she returns from her LDS mission.   

  

Renaissance Academy's 6th Grade Dragon Squadron Earns an All Time High Score.

The Sixth Grade Dragon Squadron very happy with their achievement

     Renaissance Academy has nearly 180 third through ninth grade students enrolled in the after school Voyager Club and Young Astronauts Club.  The students are divided into grade level squadrons of 8 - 10 members. Each squadron is given a name.  Last Tuesday the Sixth Grade Dragons finished the 8 month  Long Duration Mission "Iron Curtain" with a score of 135 points. That's pretty good considering a perfect score was 100 points.  Their extra points came from completing several secret mission objects not outlined in their mission briefings.      

Their final score sheet with our signatures

     This squadron is an example of rising from the ashes of defeat to win. Not only have they earned the highest score for a single round of all time (to date), they also earned the school year's lowest score for a single round after failing quite miserably in an earlier round of flights. There is a lesson to be learned here.  

     May I also congratulation them on being awesome students.  I say that as their proud classroom teacher (math and history).  Congratulations Dragons for a job well done.  You end the 8 month Long Duration Mission on top! 

Imaginarium Theater

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