Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge 2012

The Maya Astronomy Center built in Second Life (HMS Center Region) is a Finalist at FVWC‘s Focus Area: Engaging Learning.

Here is the video tour:

Beverly Gay McCarter notes: “www.HumanMosaicSystems.com — This is a BRIEF video tour of the HMS Maya Astronomy Center_Phases 1 and 2 COMBINED.

The Maya Astronomy Center_Phases 1 & 2 is an interlocking kinetic modular learning system that is a resource intensive build. It explores the Maya understanding of astronomical events and how that information impacted their culture and society. This learning module utilizes a multi-floored resource Library, as well as related independent learning modules that expand on the central subject being taught.

The Center is a free standing learning module that is able to be a stand alone exhibit or be integrated into other related builds expanding its capability. It demonstrates a pedagogical model that can be used with a variety of subject matter. The learning environment uses interactive intelligent agents, a HUD learning management system, music and dance to reinforce learning, interactive 3D models, a narrative structure to help explain the complex dynamics involved with the topic and to set the learner on an engaging Quest, hidden traps and reward systems that impact tokens earned, and multiple quizzes that award prizes.

This self-guided immersive learning environment utilizes Maya cultural mentors who appear and guide the participant as they explore the various interactive 3D exhibits in the Maya temple and on the grounds giving the participant more in depth information through the use of interactive 3D models, chat, note cards, slide presentations, web links, and videos.

The exhibits help the participants understand the complexity of the subject by breaking it down into different related units that build upon one another as the participants explore the information in this interrelated learning module.”

 

Be sure to watch this video and tell us what you think! Thanks

Ender’s Game Goes to Hollywood

On Feb 27, 2012, on ARVEL sig Ning, I blogged that while watching the Oscars, the news of Ender’s Game being given the big screen treatment was ongoing. Expected release date is mid 2013:

“I don’t know what you did last night, but my family and I were watching the Oscars and the On The Red Carpet after-Oscar programming…..during which some gossip came about Ender’s Game the movie coming to theaters in 2013 (starring Harrison Ford!). How exciting is that!!!!”

IMDb has the movie listed: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/
and Deadline New York has a short piece on it: http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/franchise-hungry-summit-plays-enders-game-with-filmmaker-gavin-hood/

Fandom did not take too long to catch the bug and created some interesting unofficial trailers, such as this one:

Conversation threads: on the original blog, and at the Prophets of Science Fiction group space.

Repost of my comment on Prophets of SF: ” Ender’s Game is an interesting piece of literature for several reasons: It’s been used in classroom to illustrate and analyze different subjects: communication arts in high school, English class in Grade 9, cyberbullying in middle school, in psychology 101 in college, etc. As a prophet of science fiction, Orson Scott Card visualized a battle room (the anti-gravity CAVE), a personal desktop (similar to an iPad), a flash suit ( flash suits exists but they are thermal-protective garment made of heavy weight NOMEX, PBI or other flame-retardant material, that protect from temperatures of up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. However in the sf novel, the flash suit seems closer to a smart textile suit than a fireman protection gear), and Free Play (or The Mind Game, a data-driven game system). The novel explores the use of simulation and technology to train critical and creative thinking and decision-making (the military have been interested in training in virtual reality for quite some times; as well as medicine, surgery, architecture, etc.)”

Today, I noticed that Amazon has started to drum up some interests again in the Ender’s Game novel. So if you do not have your copy yet, go get it, or start hanging out at your local library shop for the fifty-cent deal. I know my library shop has a couple copies for sale last time I checked.

Now, you tell me what you think of Ender’s Game. Have you read it? Have you used it in class?

Angry Birds

yeah yeah I know, what’s up with the Angry Birds here? well, not only they are now on Facebook since Tuesday (with an EXCLUSIVE Facebook  Surf and Turf set!)…and come on, you can hardly ignore an app that is approaching the billion download, now can you?…

Image: my own screen

….[drum roll please]….in March 2012, Rovio is releasing Angry Bird Space

The hook? You’ll be lobbing birds on entirely new planets while contending with zero gravity, leading to new gameplay elements like slow-motion puzzles and “lightspeed” destruction. And just like with other Angry Birds games, expect those outer-space physics to be dead on. Andrew Stalbow, GM of Rovio North America, told Yahoo! Games, “They’re so accurate and easy to grasp that some teachers use Angry Birds in their lessons about projectile motion.”  So excited with Rovio’s efforts to integrate accurate science into the game that NASA and National Geographic are launch partners on Angry Birds Space.

 

If you are a teacher who is using Angry Bird in your science class, please add your comment here and earn the astroid badge!

Ravensburger AR puzzles

Two days ago, Popsci reported on a new line of puzzles by Ravensburger: once the puzzle is completely assembled, you can interact with it via a free iOS app downloaded on your iPad or iPhone. Each puzzle unlocks different affordances in the app. So for example, “Paris provides viewers with a 360-degree panorama of the city in both day and night with clickable points-of-interest [while] an under-the-sea image pulls up a find-the-fish game, and a wildlife image cues up video footage” (source: http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/gallery/2012-02/most-incredible-toys-we-saw-toy-fair?image=8)

Image by Popsci at the 2012 American International Toy Fair on Feb 12 to 15, 2012

Still in the toys categories, robot cubes have magnets that hold the blocks together, allowing copper connectors to transmit data between the cubes. Cubelets offer different kits to different robots.

Have you seen a cool new toy that integrates an emerging technology into its interactivity? If so, list it here in comments and earn the joystick badge! Cheers.

Interactive Surfaces

We are hearing more and more about flexible epaper, flexible screens -especially for mobile devices, and other flexible AMOLED-based technology…

My personal favorite is the Nokia Morph concept

…but here is something very interesting as well: Another really cool innovative proposal from glass manufacturer Corning, “A Day Made of Glass 2”

I believe that’s why we should add all science fiction resources as required readings or viewing. Now that we’ve caught up with the Minority Report, when do you think we’ll see something similar to the Matrix-download? Prophets of Science Fiction, all of them.

Add another prophets of science fiction in comment. Cheers!

Sony PS3 Video Store -Realtime Projection Mapping

Posted a month ago. I can’t believe I did not see this sooner. Imagine this technique for school projects. I mean, come on! Shot in one take, all in real-time, no post-production.

Find the R&D story behind it here:

Enjoy. Tweet. Spread the word!

NatGeo live AR experience

What a busy month with so many exciting news. First, great stuff coming our Augmented Reality way. On November 7, 2011, National Geographic used AppShaker to create some live AR experience at the mall for anyone  to interact. The great implementation here is that no one in the audience needs their phone and an app to see what is happening. A big screen is set up and showing in real time what the AR experience is. Now you can share the experience as a group -or a class- without limitation of a small mobile screen. Watch:

Whether the idea came from promotional application (such as this Victoria Secret Angel falling from the sky -March 14, 2011)

or not, the NatGeo application conveys more interactivity than the fallen angel. We had school in the park programs, what about museum at the mall?

Enjoy, and let me know if you found something similar.

 

Song of the Machine

I.am.blown.away. This is absolutely amazing work. It all started with a notification from a TED conversation that I had to jump in this morning:

“As unmanned drones, algorithms and prosthetics blur the distinction between man and machine, what, if anything, does it mean to be human?” hosted by Anab Jain (designer and founder of the London and India based collaborative design studio Superflux.

The site is shock-full of amazing projects and proof of concepts. I was particularly interested in the research done on retinal protheses (injecting a virus to infect the degenerate eye with a light-sensitive protein + an optoelectronic augmented wearable).

“Song of the Machine explores the possibilities of this new, modified – even enhanced – vision, where wearers adjust for a reduced resolution by tuning into streams of information and electromagnetic vistas, all inaccessible to the ‘normally’ sighted. ” (read more here: http://superflux.in/work/song-machine)

I understand that this particular project targets the sight-challenged people. The implications are heartbreaking-ly awesome. Imagine a blind person seeing the world for the first time, or recovering his/her sight after an accident or disease. But let’s imagine the use of the augmented goggles and joint portable device that project a visual interface for use in mainstream, regular, day-to-day augmented reality. Many conversations have brought up the use of 3D panoramic headsets/glasses to be rewired to project ones Layar-enhanced smartphone view, or a pair of glasses already uploaded with such AR layer (maybe similar to the smart windshield, ref. https://sabinereljic.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/autoglass-hints-at-ar-windshield/). But I have yet to see any prototype of such glasses. On the other end, Superflux offers this proof of concept and is tabling the work on the device and interface with Dr. Degenaar leading the team.

Did you watch that Song of the Machine video? What do you think? find similar work? Post it here and give us your feedback!

LEGO WeDo and Scratch

Want to get your kids interested in robotics? or learn about basic computing? create game narratives? Let’s start with programming.

Scratch is a free software (shared under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike license) that provides easy access to programming: “Create and share your own interactive stories, games, video and art”. The Scratch software is free to download and available for Mac, Windows and Linux computers. Educators have adopted the program to expand their students’ understand of geometry and logical reasoning among other disciplines.
A curriculum guide was posted in September 23, 2011. It provides a series of twenty 60-minute sessions, and includes session plans, handouts, projects, and videos: http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/scratch-curriculum-guide-draft

The support material provides you with a “Getting Started” to a “Scratch Tour”. However, I particularly like the Video Tutorials. Most of them are short around a minute; the longest staying under 3 minutes. Characters are called sprites. Here is a video on how to change your sprite and your sprite color:

Now imagine that you can make your Scratch project interact with the outside world: Enter LEGO Education WeDo robotics kit. Scratch dedicates a site for all the resources: http://info.scratch.mit.edu/WeDo

Here is a video on how to interact with your sprite by moving your hand: Use the LEGO WeDo distance sensor to interact with characters in a Scratch project. [hey! Kinect! You’ve got some competition coming soon!)

For more inspiration, check out  MIT and  the Science Museum of Minnesota

Did you tweet this post (use #educege)? I have a badge for that. Did you view the video? I have a badge for that too. Check out my EducEdge Reward page to learn more about my reward system: https://sabinereljic.wordpress.com/educedge-rewards/

“Thank you for commenting on this post”

NASA challenges students in grade 5 to 12

This is not a blog on VW, AR or other emerging technologies, but I am biased in favor to NASA and its efforts to make astronomy exciting to students. Please forward this post to relevant audiences and interested colleagues.

Now Accepting Entries! Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest

Students in grades 5-12 are invited to submit their entries for the fall 2011 Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest. Entries are due at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/scientistforaday on Oct. 26 at noon PDT.

The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest challenges students to become NASA scientists studying Saturn. Participants examine three possible observations taken by the Cassini spacecraft and choose the one they think will yield the best scientific results. This choice must be supported in a 500-word essay. Winners and their classmates will participate in a teleconference with scientists from NASA’s Cassini mission.

The contest is open to students in grades 5-12, working alone or in groups of up to four students. The essays will be divided into three groups: grades 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. All submissions must be the students’ original work. Each student may submit only one entry, and all entrants will receive a certificate of participation. Winning essays will be posted on the Cassini website, and winners and their classes are invited to participate in a teleconference, videoconference, or webcast question-and-answer session with Cassini scientists. For complete rules, videos, and more information, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/scientistforaday/

Two dozen other countries are running parallel essay contests. Check here to see if your country is participating: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientistforaday10thedition/international/countries/

Questions about the contest can be sent to scientistforaday@jpl.nasa.gov

Get the flier: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/files/FLYER_2011_Sept_2.pdf

Tweet (#educedge) or forward this post (let me know in comments that you did), and this badge is yours