Unity – Digital Things!

Apps, fun, games, Unity, Work in Progress

First public demo of “Mission: Water”

“Mission: Water” – a Mixed Reality Experience for Middle School Classrooms.

Demo at SMASH 2018.

“Mission: Water” is a pair of linked Microsoft’s Mixed Reality apps offering middle school students a unique experience in the search for water in the solar system. Under development here at WGBH with teams from WGBH Children’s Media and Education and WGBH Digital Services, the project is at a prototyping stage ahead of classroom testing this fall and deployment early next year.

Using beautiful 3D imagery this app creates an experience designed for the classroom.

The apps include a parallel experience to allow one player at a time to be the explorer (wearing the Mixed Reality head-mounted display) and other another student or students to act as “Mission Control” using desktop computers, guiding the explorer and reviewing data collected during the game.

Players work in tandem to collaborate and review data in order to discuss and decide the optimal places in the solar system to collect water in support of a fictionalized mission.

The apps will be available for free in 2019 through Microsoft’s app store. Supporting content will be available for free through PBS LearningMedia. Generous funding is provided by Microsoft.

Production Team: Dan Hart, Kennedy Bailey, Jeff Bartell, Sophie Calhoun, Elizabeth Walbridge, and Bill Shribman

PBS LearningMedia: Dr. Rachel Connolly, Jake Foster, Caitlin Steer and Pegeen Wright

External Advisor: Dr. Jim Green, Planetary Science Division Director, Office of the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate

Mission_Water_poster

Apps, NASA: Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms, Plum Landing, Unity

Plum’s Island Explorer: a Classroom App

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Our latest app for Plum Landing is a bit different.

Designed for classroom use and built in Unity, it features a navigable island in which players explore Land and Water (with a grade 2 curriculum.)

Journey around the island and pick up trash to unlock information about specific landforms and water bodies which includes videos and ground-level and aerial images. Students use the game and associated supports to observe, identify, and record characteristics of common landforms and water bodies as they navigate and represent the landscape from an aerial perspective on a map.

Support materials are at PBS LearningMedia where you can find a desktop version of the app that’s suitable for Chromebooks as well as a Background Essay, and Teaching Tips.

This resource was developed through WGBH’s Bringing the Universe to America’s Classrooms project, in collaboration with NASA. Click here for the full collection of resources.

App Team: Dan, Lizzy, Bill, Jeff, Sophie, Gentry, Alan, and Mariee with game design advice from Nicolas and tremendous support from Rachel, Laura and the rest of this project’s education team.

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The material contained in this product is based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award No. NNX16AD71A. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NASA: Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms, Plum Landing, Unity

Plum Meets NASA

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Plum’s Island Explorer: Land and Water – a Classroom Activity for Grades K-2

Navigate around the island to explore various landforms and water bodies in this interactive Unity game from PLUM LANDING.

For best results, play this game in full-screen in Chrome or Firefox.

This activity is funded by NASA under cooperative agreement award No. NNX16AD71A. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.