First Look at the IKS Dreamcatcher

The mooring clamps hissed as the shuttle slid smoothly into docking position.  The airlock light turned from red to yellow and finally to green, indicating that it was safe to disembark.  Admiral Starblayze pushed open the hatch and stepped aboard Massaro Deep Space Shipyard, which was stationed in an uncharted corner of the universe so remote that it can only be reached by a child’s imagination.  It was here, at a cosmic intersection of Imagination and Elbow Grease, that the IKS Dreamcatcher was being constructed.

Like its sisters in the Infinity Knights fleet, the IKS Dreamcatcher will bear its intrepid crews of bright-minded children to the far reaches of imagination and reality.  The stalwart construction crew give freely of their skill, strength, and sweat, for they know that the fate of the future rests upon the shoulders of the rising generation.

Admiral Starblayze beamed as he looked through the observation window and caught first glance at the Dreamcatcher.  Still in the early stages of construction, it shone like a beacon through the darkness.  This labor of love is progressing rapidly, and in only a matter of months it will embark on missions of learning and adventure unlike any other!

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Announcing Contaminant

Contaminant-PosterWe’re delighted to unveil the latest addition to our mission library!  Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a fish?  How do insects, fish, and water impact human beings?  How do different elements of an ecosystem relate to one another?  Find out all the answers to these questions and more in Contaminant!

Contaminant is being developed for the IKS Highlander and will be available to all Dream Flight Adventures simulators.  Here’s a sneak peak:

Sudura is an isolated city in the middle of a large forested region. Despite being far from any other city, it has recently begun to grow rapidly because Vikasa Corporation has opened a fertilizer factory along the shore of Upahara River, which resulted in hundreds of new workers moving into the region.

Recently Sudura City had an unexplained outbreak of the Chandipura virus, a dangerous disease that infects children, causing comas and even death. So far about one thousand children have been infected, many of whom have died. The Chandipura virus is transmitted by Sandflies, a small type of biting midge whose populations are are unusually high this year, for unknown reasons. To make matters worse all the fish have disappeared, also for unknown reasons, causing a severe food shortage.

The underlying cause behind all this is believed to be tied to the Upahara River, but there’s a problem. Vikasa Corporation purchased the property rights to the entire river when they opened their factory, and they are not allowing anyone to enter it, even despite the emergency conditions. Having no alternative, the governor of Sudura City has called upon the Infinity Knights—the renowned protectors and peace and justice throughout the universe—to investigate the source of this strange plague and the disappearance of the fish and to save their city before it’s too late.

Coming soon to a simulator near you!

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A Birthday Surprise for the IKS Titan

Happy Birthday

Can you believe it?

Just 11 short months ago the IKS Titan was unveiled to the world.  We were thrilled—to say the least—but we never imagined it would have been so amazingly successful so fast.  In this short span it has served over a thousand brilliant studentshosted delegations from educators far and widebeen featured in numerous articles and conferencesand helped the Shaler Area School District receive the recognition it deserves!

To help celebrate this incredible year, we’re putting together a special feature on the IKS Titan and the amazing teachers and students at Shaler Area Elementary who have used it.  We plan to publicize this special feature on the Titan’s one-year anniversary, March 20, 2014.

But, we need your help!

Please take a minute to fill out some information below about your thoughts and experiences with the IKS Titan.

Also, please share this page with anyone else you know who has been touched by the IKS Titan.  We really appreciate your help.

Shhhhh!  Don’t tell the Titan… we want this to be a special birthday surprise!

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IKS Highlander Featured in TribLive Article

Michael Kaleta, science department chair at Harrison Middle School and Flight Director of the IKS Highlander, points out where the new simulator will be built

Michael Kaleta, science department chair at Harrison Middle School and Flight Director of the IKS Highlander, points out where the new simulator will be built

Extra, extra, read all about it!  The IKS Highlander—currently under construction at Harrison Middle School—was featured in a fantastic TribLive article.

Here’s a quick excerpt:

“This is a real life experience,” said Michael Kaleta, science department chair at Harrison Middle School. “The choices that the kids make individually will affect the outcome of the simulation and will affect the outcome of what the other jobs will have to do.”

Each mission often has an ethical decision that the students will face.

“Yes, they’re doing the science behind it, but then there’s that point in the mission where the kids will have to make a decision that they know is going to affect people in a certain way,” Kaleta said.

Check out the full article.

 

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Simulators, Simulators, Get Your Simulators

IKS Highlander SketchHot off the press, we’ve recently added several sections on this website containing detailed information about the three new simulators under construction in the greater Pittsburgh area:

Be sure to check out these sites to learn all the juicy details as these simulators come online this year.

Also, if you’re interested in bringing a simulator to your own school, museum, or community group, we have answers for you too.

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A Visit from the Smithsonian

A delegation of executives from the Smithsonian visits the IKS Titan

A delegation of executives from the Smithsonian visits the IKS Titan

Yesterday we had the honor of hosting a group of executives from the Smithsonian at the IKS Titan.  They were very impressed by what they saw and asked many very good questions.  The guest list included:

  • Claudine K. Brown, Assistant Secretary for Education and Access, The Smithsonian Institution
  • Jane Lipton Cafritz, Chairman and CEO, Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
  • Trisha Edward, Education Specialist, Lemelson Center
  • Ryan Hill, Director of Digital Learning Programs, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • Dr. Kim Kiehl, Executive Director, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center
  • Caroline Payson, Director of Education, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

But this guest list wasn’t the only impressive thing—we had a rockstar group of GATE students from Shaler Area Elementary present the Titan, their experiences in it, and how it’s impacted their educational experience.  They did a fantastic job and really made the Smithsonian’s visit a powerful one.

We greatly enjoyed the Smithsonian’s visit and welcome them back any time.  Perhaps next time we’ll have enough time to put them through a full mission.  How do you think they’ll do?  They’re a pretty sharp bunch!

 

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A Meeting of the Minds

Today the leaders of the Baldwin-Whitehall School District paid a visit to the pros at the Shaler Area School District who are on the front lines every day with their students in the IKS Titan.  They are a bit shell-shocked at the scope of the project—but very excited to bring the same catalyst of learning and wonder to their students with their own simulator, the IKS Highlander.  Stay tuned for more exciting updates as the project develops.

Special thanks to Bob Gasowski for showing how he forged the IKS Titan out of rough imaginations into something fantastic and real, and also to Mike Penn for sharing his trade secrets about how to weave the best interactive stories this side of the Orion Nebula.

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Vesuvius Fan Fiction

After an intense weekend at the Global Game Jam we now return you to your regularly scheduled stream of updates from Dream Flight Adventures.

Courtesy of Richard Johnson's Imagination Series

Courtesy of Richard Johnson’s Imagination Series

One of my favorite things about Dream Flight Adventures is the way it stirs the imagination of everyone it touches.  Today I’m delighted to share a beautiful piece of fan fiction inspired by Vesuvius that was written by a high-achieving sixth grader at Shaler Area Elementary School:

Vesuvius

By: Allie

I was sitting at my desk staring out the window. It was a gloomy Tuesday, much like any other day in October. The clouds meandered aimlessly overhead, blocking the sun from my view.  It was frigidly cold outside, even for the middle of fall. I was waiting for class to be dismissed for 9th period, my GATE period. I was impatiently staring at the clock, waiting for the minute arm to move over to the five. I could practically hear it ticking. Biting my lip in anticipation, I placed a hand on my folder, waiting for my teacher to tell us that class was over. As soon as the arm reached it’s destination, I snatched up my belongings from my desk and dashed out the door into the crowded hallway. Practically throwing my stuff into my bag, I skipped off to the GATE room. We were going to go into the simulator, and I was assigned as Captain. I wanted to get to the debriefing room quickly so my favorite seat wouldn’t be taken.

When I got to the debriefing room, I realized I was the first one there. Sitting down at my usual seat, I saw my friend, also excited for the simulator, walking in the door.

“What took you so long?” I whined.

“What’s the rush?” she questioned, ”I was running, trying to catch up with you, and I still didn’t catch up!”

“We’re going into the simulator today! We’re trying out a new mission! And I’m captain!” I explained as I leaned back, relaxing in my chair.

“I knew that!” she explained. After a while, the rest of the class got there and sat down in the rows of red chairs. After the last student entered through the door, Mr.Penn appeared from behind the wall that separated the control panel from the rest of the room. He explained the mission we were going on. It was called Vesuvius. In short, we had to go into a volcano on Craft Island. A world renowned volcanologist predicted that it was going to erupt, and evacuated the island. The volcano never did erupt, and now he’s a laughing stock. We have to find out whether or not it will erupt.

“Awesome!” I whispered to my friend on my left.

He nodded and answered, ”I know. I wish I was captain. You’re so lucky.” I smiled smugly, and gave my attention back to Mr.Penn, who was reading the positions off of a roster. Sure enough, I was first on the list as captain. We all lined up to go through the revolving door that led into the IKS Titan. It was like the door you see at the fancy hotels. I rather liked those kind of doors. When I got into the ship after waiting for the other thirteen kids, I sat in the Captain’s Chair, which I had awarded “The Most Comfortable Chair on the Ship”. I sighed, staring at the LED lights that lined the walls, watching how they turned from red, to orange, to yellow, and so on. I listened as the air conditioner hummed in the corner of the room, wishing they would turn it down a bit. Forgetting my hoodie in my locker was not one of my better ideas. Getting up out of my chair, I stood in front of the screen, directly in front of the plasma ball that glowed on the dashboard.

Read more ›

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Announcing “Chicken Chase”

Chicken-Chase-Splash

After 48 hours of whirl-wind family game-making, Chicken Chase is finally here!  It’s a cooperative two-player iPad game that uses voice, touch, and motion controls.  It was a fun effort for the whole family:

Credits

Chicken Chase be available on the App Store soon, and in the meantime you can check out all the exciting details here.

App-Store-Badge-Coming-Soon

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The Game Takes Shape

With only a few hours left to go in the Global Game Jam, our epic game—Chicken Chase—is really taking shape.  Here’s the rough wireframe as the game existed at the beginning of the day yesterday:

GGJ-wireframe

And here’s how it looks now:

Chicken Chase

It’s been an intense past 40 hours or so… especially because Little Gary has been sick and out of commission for several hour stretches.  But that’s okay—we’ve roped in his brothers Peter and Daniel to help out, and Sarah has been making some amazing background music too!  The game is going to be great, and it’s been a wonderful (albeit intense and stressful) way to bring the family together.

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