KEN ZORNIAK, VICE PRESIDENT, FRANTIC FILMS
“The cost of living in Winnipeg is a huge advantage. You can get the same amount of money for the same work as in Toronto and Vancouver but with lower overhead you can keep your costs under control.”
“The cost of living in Winnipeg is a huge advantage. You can get the same amount of money for the same work as in Toronto and Vancouver but with lower overhead you can keep your costs under control.”
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Daniel Laughlin, NASA
Following a morning of presentations on simulation technologies, NASA’s Dr. Daniel Laughlin and I had occasion to speak about discovery and wonder – naturally, the first elements of any serious discussion on next generation education in the fields of science and engineering. Well, maybe not yet. Laughlin mused aloud as to why attendance is down and attrition is high in engineering programs. Is it because engineers lack CSI Factor, a TV show to glamorize their disciplines? Do students lack work ethic? Is there just too much to learn? Perhaps it’s because the short sleeves-and-ties guys for which NASA is infamous are masters of many things but an ability to evangelise the inspiration is a search for mathematical truth isn’t one of them. The gruelling educational treadmill NASA engineers and scientists pursue speaks of dedication and passion but not excitement. In the hey-day of the space race, the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions created celebrities for the Western World. The first generations of astronauts were more than celebrities – they were heroes. And NASA policy is officially out of the hero manufacturing business. Laughlin’s focus on learning technologies is the sounding of a new trumpet for the beleaguered NASA. With the RFP for a NASA-sponsored massively-multiplayer online game published in April, NASA may have turned a corner. Professing to be more educator than scientist, Laughlin described the role the right game could play in bolstering interest in real NASA career paths, in serving as a study aid to schools or even setting the bar high enough that the game could be a university-level course in itself. Eschewing the chocolate-covered-broccoli approach of many edutainment initiatives (neither educational nor entertaining), Laughlin dreams of a game that will embrace the science and be fun because, well, to engineers and scientists, science is fun. It’s bureaucracy that is the kiss of death. But for NASA employees, every day is a mixture of excitement and terror. Since humankind first climbed outside the valley, sailed across the sea, found a pass through the mountains, over the ice and then up, up, into orbit, we have looked at what’s next. Exploration has defined our peoples, as has the will to achieve for the sake of achieving. Laughlin wants a game that embraces collaboration, nurtures wonder, builds heroes, makes science fun, communicates the soul of science as a search that never ends and could be sold on the shelves of a big box electronics retailer. A tall order? Good – those of us who love NASA expect nothing less. More information on the proposed MMO can be found at http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo. /// TOP |
 
   
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