Universe Scavenger Hunt (Dawnell Moon)

CARINA: These are my concluding remarks (other remarks in text):

  • I like this idea a lot! Go!
  • I’d suggest having a key of all the objects floating on one side all the time, and to search for objects in any order rather than a particular order.

Concepts: To explain to children and help them identify the different objects in our universe. To help give children the idea that space is composed of items other than just stars.

Description: The children will see a 3-D cube like the one shown in our initial presentation (see our first stab at . Each side will name a celestial object and have limited text explaining what that object is. Other faces will represent the survey volume and the telescope itself and explain in a limited fashion about the Sloan Sky Survey so they know this is real data, and to explain why, when they fly through, it looks like there are just long strips. One face of the cube will also include information about how new the survey is and tell children that they are literally one in a million, or a hundred million that have been able to see this new map. We will try to generate excitement for the coming scavenger hunt that they have a unique opportunity to explore this new information. Specifically: One side will illustrate a spiral galaxy. It will explain that you see galaxies, not stars and that galaxies have 150 billion stars inside them. Then a picture of an elliptical galaxy will be shown. The cube will explain this is the second shape that galaxies come in. Then something tagged “Clue” could pop up and say ‘Elliptical galaxies not only look different, but they tend to be in clusters’. This will help children later when they are on the scavenger hunt looking for galaxies. Next quasars will be illustrated. We will explain that these objects are the furthest away that we can see. That means they are very bright, but very old. More information on any of the objects and questions will be dealt with through facilitation.

Once children have been familiarized with objects such as quasars, spiral and elliptical galaxies, etc they will be allowed to take control and navigate through the space on a scavenger hunt. The computer will display the text, i.e. “Find a Spiral Galaxy” and a picture of the object to be found. Children will navigate through the Sloan data and when they think they have found the correct object will click a button and select the object. {Note we will have to cheat here as the real data looks like points of light. It will be necessary to add pictures of objects, and presumable to create sign posts so that they can be found}

CARINA: That’s OK. They’re not real celestial objects regardless; it’s an illustration. It’s better to get more of your point across with simplifications than less with “perfect” data.

They will be able to zoom in on an object and get a better resolution picture so they can tell what the object is as the Sloan data initially all looks like dots of light. The computer will then either tell them they were successful or direct them to try again. For younger children who are relying more on visual matching skills instead of reading, the text such as “wrong” or “try again” could be accompanied by a frowning face or the red circle with a slash

CARINA:

  • No “wrong” or frowning face! No visitor should be punished at the museum. However, “try again” is OK. It’ll be embarrassing enough to make a mistake in a roomful of people.
  • You may even want to make it easier by having a key or list of the things they’re looking for float along as they do the flythrough, so they don’t have to find things in a set order. Also, if the point is for them to learn these things, you should make it as easy as possible. I’m sure you didn’t have a test on these topics 5 minutes after you learned them, so why should they?
  • Why do the new things only pop up once they’ve found the last thing? Why not have them all out at once? That would be more like a regular scavenger hunt, and they’d have a greater chance of success, and thus having a happy smart feeling about their experience.

(think Ghostbusters and no smoking). If they are correct a new object will appear. Once children have completed finding four or five objects the computer and Sammy can congratulate them and tell them they’re a great space explorer.

Timeline: The fly thorough data exists and is already up on the geowall. We will need to determine how much detail is needed for the objects to be found in the scavenger hunt, and for the cube. This will depend on programming skills and level of detail sought.

Other Cube Notes:

WMAP to be removed from cube – it is new and exciting but a bit off topic

A different picture is needed to represent volume of the survey

Dawnell and Katie are currently editing the content of the descriptions and background information for the cube faces.

CARINA: I like this idea of having something to search for very much. It not only gives a purpose to the exploration, but it also has visitors role-playing as astronomers. The more things in the list the better! Everything you can think of!

The only thing is that the scale of the flythrough would have to be chosen carefully. In the version I saw, everything was so compact that the galaxies and other objects were very apparent. You don’t want this game to be too hard, or too easy, so it will take some fiddling and testing.

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