“Red Alert. Warning this ship has been targeted by unknown vessel. Unknown vessel is firing a plasma weapon. Shockwave will hit this vessel in five… four… three… two… one… impact.” As children discover through various encounters with aliens and situations not experienced in the world of reality, the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center (the Space Center) located in Pleasant Grove, Utah is an educational opportunity like no other. While some say that the Space Center is only a glorified video game, it is in reality much more so. Children learn team work, responsibility, social studies and a bit of science while having a blast.
The Space Center’s primary target audience is children in 5th and 6th grades. Each class in the area gets to come to the Space Center for a 2 hour mission once every school year. Having been told about the magic of the Space Center by older siblings, friends and classmates, it is the one day of school that no child wants to miss.
Based in the Star Trek universe, children (and sometimes adults too) become the bridge crew of the starship USS Voyager[1] and must defend their beliefs in order to reach the successful outcome of the mission. Each crew member is assigned a different position on the bridge and crews must work together in order to accomplish a goal. Crews control ship functions through computers using mostly mouseclicks as well as keyboard inputs. The captain and ambassador as well as other crew members interact with off-bridge personnel, the main computer, and other ships through microphone and main speakers. A tactical viewscreen provides important information to the crews throughout the mission.
The environment where the simulations take place by itself is educational. Children develop valuable skills during their time on the bridge. The captain learns how to delegate and lead because the captain is not trained how to do anyone’s job; he just has to tell the officer what he wants and expect that officer to get the job done. The ambassador learns diplomacy through interactions with aliens. The security officers learn tactical skills, through battle simulations. Children learn responsibility because each child has a specific job to do and if it doesn’t get done, the whole ship suffers the consequences. They also develop teamwork, because each officer is trained to do something different. Every child has to rely on the others to do their jobs, and every child brings something different to the task. When a problem occurs during the mission, every child sees it in a different way, and together they come up with the solution.
There are many different missions the Space Center flies, and each one of them persuades different ideologies. Two of the more prominent missions are Intolerance and Midnight Rescue. Intolerance addresses the concept of freedom and individual rights through an encounter with an escaped slave. Midnight Rescue persuades the audience that democracy is the best solution to foreign government problems.
A wormhole has just opened up near the Romulan Neutral Zone, and a small damaged ship comes through. A Federation scout ship, the USS Ranger made contact and found one lifeform onboard. On board is a slave named Rooll, who has been running away from his master for years. He is asking for political asylum, so that he can live his life away from the one he calls the Hunter. Thus begins Intolerance. Voyager takes over for the Ranger and discovers that Rooll is an eight year old boy and his family has died while running from the Hunter. This applies to the children’s sympathy. Rooll is small, weak and defenseless. The Voyager crew is the only people who can help him. Shortly after they meet Rooll another ship comes through the wormhole, commanded by someone called Pennou. He demands that Voyager return his property to him. The children must defend Rooll in order to beat the mission. Thus the children learn about slavery and freedom by interacting with an escaped slave and his master. It is a first time experience for most children, and they walk away understanding more about the ideologies behind the civil war and the civil rights movement. Not only do they understand more about the mindset of those in their history, but they know about it in through firsthand experience, and can more easily apply it to the world around them.
Midnight Rescue focuses on a small country named New Earth on the border of the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Although this country used to be a democratic republic, recent events have changed its political structure. It is now a dictatorship under the leadership of Chancellor Alexander. There are rumors of death camps and Chancellor Alexander has decided to close the Federation Embassy on New Earth. Voyager must rescue the embassy workers and as many innocent citizens of New Earth as possible, while stealing documents proving the existence of the death camps. These documents will enable the Federation to wipe out Chancellor Alexander and return it to a democratic state without causing the Klingons to start a war with the Federation. This mission is overflowing with foreign policy. The children are taught that relationships with one government affect the relationships with another government, and that it is always best to remain on the good side of the more powerful government. Chancellor Alexander is portrayed in the worst possible light. While the children never encounter the chancellor, they do meet the head of his secret police, who is a argumentative man. Many of his comments are designed to turn the children against him. Everything about the current New Earth government is viewed as negative, and the only hope for a better future is shown to be a democratic government.
[1] There are actually five different simulators at the Space Center. Voyager was the first ship built and is the flagship of the center. While this analysis focuses solely on Voyager, the arguments presented can also be applied to USS Galileo, USS Phoenix, USS Odyssey, and DSS Magellan.
children learn. . . by having a blast. . . and getting blasted by aliens, right? nice introduction!
ReplyDeletehow do you know that children don't want to miss this experience?
your fourth paragraph is largely telling rather than showing. can you walk me through a simulation and show me how the participants (players) learn these skills and awarenesses via the game? the next two paragraphs do this. maybe you can divide the telling in the fourth paragraph into your examples in the next two paragraphs?
since the game is largely educational, perhaps you might refer to bogost's point that educational games tend to support our notions of work and knowledge production? also, there is a serious _star trek_ nerdiness in these simulations that you don't address. romulans and klingons, for example, come from the _star trek_ series. can you talk about what this appeal to _star trek_ fans means?