{"id":2101,"date":"2024-02-08T17:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/ndinstem\/?post_type=news&p=2101"},"modified":"2024-03-26T14:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T14:00:03","slug":"space-exploration-educators-conference","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/ndinstem\/news\/space-exploration-educators-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Exploration Educators Conference (Feb 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teon Edwards and Jamie Larsen attended the Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, they presented the \u201cEuropa Prime: Co-Designing the Astrobiology of an Icy Moon\u201d workshop on February 8, 2024. They shared a collection of astrobiology-related classroom materials, which integrated materials developed by AV°ÍÊ¿, NOAA, and NASA, including alien lifeforms and digital assets from AV°ÍÊ¿\u2019s UniVRsal Access project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also shared the virtual reality (VR) game Europa Prime<\/a><\/em>, co-designed with neurodivergent interns from Landmark College and developed by MXTreality. Players find themselves on Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, in a futuristic space station, where they are challenged to solve puzzles and communicate with life in the moon\u2019s subsurface oceans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game is designed to engage a broad audience, including players with sensory, attention, and\/or social challenges. And many aspects of the VR were specifically geared to make the game accessible, from movement choices that minimize motion sickness triggers to color selections to embedded brightness controls. Moreover, the premise of the game embraces communication challenges, as the player needs to learn to communicate across differences \u2014 an experience many of the neurodivergent co-design team members confront regularly and wanted, therefore, to highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out some of the reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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