infinitE Dome:
At Carnegie Mellon University, I led project team infinitE. We were tasked with designing and building the first installation in what would become educational interactive lab in 15 weeks. The goal of the lab was to spark an interest amongst 6th and 7th grade students in the field of energy.
My role as Game and Platform Designer was to design an interactive hemispherical display that brings the cosmic scale of energy down to the individual scale in a way that kids can understand. The team delivered the physical installation as well as a wealth of content to use with it to our client Elizabeth Forward School District. It was important to ensure the platform was easy to develop for and has enough content to make it a permanent fixture in the classroom.
As the centerpiece of the classroom, it serves as the Energy Lab's Cinderella Castle and fundamental introduction to how energy works in our cosmos.
While similar non-touchscreen devices have been built in the past, ours came in at a mere fraction of the cost and functioning touchscreen features.
Accompanying iPad App
As part of this project, I designed an app that leveraged the student's iPads to "class source" education. The application allowed students and teachers to collaborate outside of the classroom to share information. Students can post and comment on information that they feel is important to a topic introduced by the teacher. This content can range from academic publications to episodes of "The Big Bang Theory". All conversation sparking information is welcome. The students are rewarded energy points that tie into a gamified layer of the application.