Traveling Space Museum
Modeled after NASA's design, TSM's Mission Control Console has a complete set of teleconferencing and Internet links that correspond with workstations aboard the Odyssey SpaceLab. Mission Control is also equipped to teleconference with cadets piloting the Orion flight simulator at a third school.
Mission Control is the hub of the TSM program. The Lead Instructor will always be at the school hosting the Mission Control Console. The Lead Instructor will always be at Mission Control leading discussions and overseeing operations. The cadets at Mission Control will, in turn, guide their remote team members through problem solving, lab experiments, and hardware operations. In a typical scenario, cadets aboard the Odyssey at school "A" can retrieve medical data (e.g., EKG and EEG signals) transmitted by students wearing sensors while piloting the Orion Shuttle at school "B." The data is then relayed to students at Mission Control at school "C," for analysis. Mission Control will also have multichannel transmitting capabilities which will allow a student, serving as a technical director, to decide which of the many camera angles is shown on the giant screen TV's located at all three schools.
Students teaching students is bound to make the lessons all the more memorable. These futuristic tools and methodology promises to teach kids more information faster, have them retain it longer, and provides a lot more fun than didactic instruction. This could be the dream of every futurist finally realized.
The Mission Control Console can be used to develop language and technical skills as well as socialization skills while working as a team. The Odyssey SpaceLab, Mission Control and Orion Flight Simulator are portable so as to rotate amongst different schools after a number of weeks, so that each of the three participating schools in the pilot project phase can play host to a different simulation.