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The KIDS' TOUR was designed by the Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab and the MICHIGAN 4-H CHILDREN'S GARDEN.
Our mission is to create a parallel virtual experience that in its own virtual way is as rich in exploration, surprises, learning, and fun as the real children's garden. The kids' tour is an ever expanding project which links to 9 years of professional and student software development. The interface is incredibly dense with a single screen acting as a portal to myriad panoramas, QTVRs garden eCards, garden videos, interactive games and stories, garden vocabulary in American Sign Language, and information for teachers and parents. The project embodies elegant, natural integration of virtual and real worlds.
This project was partially supported by a grant from the Dow Foundation.
Director of Software Development: Carrie Heeter
Content Director and Virtual Curator: "Dr. Norm" LowndsLead Programmer and Artist: Ben Rhodes
Lead Developer and Artist: Mihai Peteu
QTVR and Flash Panoramas: Mihai Peteu, Sulakshana Gopal, Pete Maziak, Brian Winn, Ben Rhodes
Videographer: Pete Maziak
eCard Programming: Brian Winn, Ben Rhodes
Production Assistant: Laura Portwood-StacerThe project involved six months of intensive programming (and years of content development) to develop this flexible, expandable interface. We wrote a series of detailed tutorials for anyone interested in creating a similar project.
Research is underway to understand how kids and grownups as well as boys and girls of different ages explore the real and virtual gardens, and how these parallel explorations impact (and hopefully enhance) each other.
Many of the interactive games were created by students as class projects. Here is a list of the games that pop up, and the people who developed them (working with Heeter and Lownds).
| Character | Activity | Developers |
|
click here to open |
Shakey
The Caterpillar Game |
by Christy King, Jason Freevol, and David Fueling with additions by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Dance
Chimes Game |
by Paul Kurf |
|
click here to open |
Water
Me Game
|
by Mihai Peteu |
|
click here to open |
Sundial
Game
|
by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
The
Bear Who Wanted to Be a Bear Story Listen to "The Bear who Wanted to be a Bear" by Jorg Steiner, Jorg Muller. (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Train
Video |
by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Go
Buggy Game
|
by Sulakshana Gopal |
|
click here to open |
Pizza
Garden Game |
by Jiatyan Chen, Jill Hallden, and Barry Carr |
|
click here to open |
Bullfrog
Story Listen to "Bullfrog Story" (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Froggy
Gets Dressed Story Listen to the story "Froggy Gets Dressed" by Jonathan London, Frank Remkiewicz(Illustrator). (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Question
of the Week: Curley Leaves |
by Norm Lownds and Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Question
of the Week: Spring
|
by Norm Lownds and Liz Monroe |
|
click here to open |
Question
of the Week: Mystery Bulge
|
by Norm Lownds and Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Question
of the Week: Dormancy
|
by Norm Lownds and Liz Monroe |
|
click here to open |
Plant
Builder Game
|
by Mike Lownds |
|
click here to open |
Running
Walking Flying Seeds of the Desert Interactive Story
|
story by Norm Lownds, software by Malini Rao and Jin Kim with Carrie Heeter |
|
click here to open |
Magic
Typewriter Game
|
by
Yiran Lin and Carrie Heeter |
|
click here to open |
ABC
Game
|
by Katherine Hicks and Brad Dixon |
|
click here to open |
Little
Boo! Story Listen to the story "Little Boo!" by Colin McNaughton. (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Zoo
Story Listen to the story "Zoo" (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Let's
Go Visiting Listen to the story "Let's Go Visiting" by Sue williams, Julie Viras (Illustrator). (From our summer "Stories in the Garden" program) |
video by Pete Maziak |
|
click here to open |
Alice
In Wonderland Maze Explore this virtual maze from child or adult view, encountering alice in wonderland characters. The overhead view can help if you feel lost. (Note: this is a very large file. It works fine with fast internet connections or on CD-ROM but it takes a long time to download over dialup connections.) |
created by Tory Sawyer with voices by Marcia Witt |
|
click here to open |
ASL
Signs You will also see one or more hand characters in every panoramic scene. Click on the hand to see the ASL sign for the word written on the hand, along with a description of how the sign is formed. (Signs are part of the National Department of Education-Funded Personal Communicator and ASL Browser project). |
the ASL Browser was developed by David Steward, Carrie Heeter, and Brian Winn to visit the complete site on the Internet click here |
|
click here to open |
Compost
Pile Microbes See images of microbes and read about how microbes process waste in compost piles (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |
|
click here to open |
Ag
Acres Microbes See images of microbes and read about how microbes are used in agriculture (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |
|
click here to open |
Root
Cellar Microbes See images of microbes and read about how microbes live inside of soil and help plants grow (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |
|
click here to open |
Pond
Microbes See images of microbes and read about microbes who live in ponds (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |
|
click here to open |
Cow
Rumen Microbes See images of microbes and read about how microbes live inside of cow's stomachs and help them digest their food (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |
|
click here to open |
Poo
Corner Microbes See images of microbes and read about how microbes live inside of human and animal poo and help recycle it into fertilizer (part of the NSF-funded Microbe Zoo project with the Center for Microbial Ecology). |
creators of the microbe zoo are described on the zoo site |