Kiwaka | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Landka |
Publisher(s) | Landka |
Composer(s) | |
Platform(s) | |
Release | iOS June 5, 2014 tvOS+macOS May 18, 2017 |
Genre(s) | Educational game |
Kiwaka is an educational game for iOS, macOS and tvOS designed to teach children about astronomy. The app was developed by the Portuguese [1] software company Landka in collaboration with scientific institutions such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). [2] [3]
Kiwaka explores the concept of tangential learning. In the game, an elephant lights up stars to complete constellations and, after each level, an education module is presented to learn more about these constellations. The importance of rules that regulate learning modules and game experience is discussed by Moreno, C., in a case study about Kiwaka. [4]
The app was featured in the Kids section of the App Store and reached the top sales of apps for kids in 9 countries. [5]
Kiwaka is part game and part lesson, combining entertainment and education. [2] [3] The concept behind the app is a true legend according to witch "fireflies carry lights from the stars". [6] [7] The purpose of the game is to help a pink elephant to catch fireflies revealing constellations in the night sky. Once all the stars in a constellation are completed, detailed information about the constellation is provided, such as the description of the associated greek myth, a video explaining how to find the constellation in the night sky and the location and description of the most important stars, galaxies and nebulae. [8] [9] Soundtrack was composed by the Emmy nominee David Ari Leon. [10]
The game takes place in Kiwaka (a real location in Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa) where four creatures learn about an ancient legend according to witch fireflies carry the light from the stars. The creatures take on a journey to collect fireflies and learn about the mysteries and ancient myths behind each constellation. An interactive book app "Kiwaka Story" telling the tale of the characters was launched simultaneously with the game. The book app is targeted at young children and narrated by Diogo Morgado. [11]
Kiwaka is a side-scrolling game with a simple tap control system. The player controls a pink elephant (Kudi) as he travels in a floating soap bubble collecting fireflies and avoiding different obstacles. Each firefly will light up a star in the night sky revealing hidden constellations. At the end of each level the player can look at a star map and learn about the constellations "earned" throughout the game. Two interactive star maps are presented: one for the northern hemisphere constellations and the other for the southern hemisphere constellations. [12]
Kiwaka engages tangential learning by providing relevant scientific information about stars and constellations "earned" throughout the game. This information includes astronomy details about the constellations, an explanation on how to find the constellation in the night sky, and the locations, descriptions and images of the most important stars, galaxies and nebulae. [13] Most of these images come from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) image libraries and depict deep-space objects that can actually be found in the constellations. Links are provided to ESA and ESO websites for more information about these objects.
Kiwaka also presents information about the classical mythology behind each constellation. Users are introduced to classical Greek literature examples, such as the story of Cassiopeia and the myth of Perseus and the Medusa. The drawings of constellations depicted in the app are from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia, the famous Atlas of constellations by Johannes Hevelius. [14]
The project Kiwaka was developed by Landka over a period of two years leading to the simultaneously publication of the iOS game "Kiwaka" and the book app "Kiwaka Story" on June 5, 2014. [14] Kiwaka was featured in Kids section of the App Store and reached the top sales of apps for kids in 9 countries. [5] The macOS and tvOS versions were released on May, 2017. The app received generally positive reviews from press and scientific community. [2] [3] [12] [15] [16] [17]
Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its old astronomical symbol is (♐︎). Its name is Latin for "archer". Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow. It lies between Scorpius and Ophiuchus to the west and Capricornus and Microscopium to the east.
Orion is a prominent set of stars visible during winter in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. It is named for a hunter in Greek mythology.
A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud, particularly molecular clouds, that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection nebulae. The extinction of the light is caused by interstellar dust grains in the coldest, densest parts of molecular clouds. Clusters and large complexes of dark nebulae are associated with Giant Molecular Clouds. Isolated small dark nebulae are called Bok globules. Like other interstellar dust or material, the things it obscures are visible only using radio waves in radio astronomy or infrared in infrared astronomy.
Stellarium is a free and open-source planetarium, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version, available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. A port of Stellarium called Stellarium Mobile is available for Android, iOS, and Symbian as a paid version, being developed by Noctua Software. These have a limited functionality, lacking some features of the desktop version. All versions use OpenGL to render a realistic projection of the night sky in real time.
Celestia is a real-time 3D astronomy software program that was created in 2001 by Chris Laurel. The program allows users to virtually travel through the universe and explore celestial objects that have been catalogued. Celestia also doubles as a planetarium, but the user is not restricted to the Earth's surface, like in other planetarium software such as Stellarium. Celestia can display objects of various scales using OpenGL.
The Horsehead Nebula is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion molecular cloud complex. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434.
IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula, the Lambda Centauri Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus, near the star λ Centauri. It features Bok globules, which are frequently a site of active star formation. However, no evidence for star formation has been found in any of the globules in IC 2944. Other designations for IC 2944 include RCW 62, G40 and G42.
The Southern Crab Nebula is a nebula in the constellation Centaurus. The nebula is several thousand light years from Earth, and its central star is a symbiotic Mira variable - white dwarf pair. It is named for its resemblance to the Crab Nebula, which is in the northern sky.
NGC 6357 is a diffuse nebula near NGC 6334 in the constellation Scorpius. The nebula contains many proto-stars shielded by dark discs of gas, and young stars wrapped in expanding "cocoons" or expanding gases surrounding these small stars. It is also known as the Lobster Nebula. This nebula was given the name War and Peace Nebula by the Midcourse Space Experiment scientists because of its appearance, which, in infrared images the bright, western part resembles a dove, while the eastern part looks like a skull. A petition by anime fans to rename it as the Madokami nebula, due to resemblance with a character, was unsuccessful.
NGC 6334, colloquially known as the Cat's Paw Nebula, or Gum 64, is an emission nebula and star-forming region located in the constellation Scorpius. NGC 6334 was discovered by astronomer John Herschel in 1837, who observed it from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The nebula is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, at a distance of approximately 5.5 kilolight-years from the Sun.
The Sharpless catalog is a list of 313 H II regions intended to be comprehensive north of declination −27°. The first edition was published in 1953 with 142 objects (Sh1), and the second and final version was published by US astronomer Stewart Sharpless in 1959 with 312 objects. Sharpless also includes some planetary nebulae and supernova remnants, in addition to H II regions.
An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects, typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology, origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. The oldest and largest are star catalogues. Hundreds have been published, including general ones and special ones for such items as infrared stars, variable stars, giant stars, multiple star systems, star clusters, and so forth.
The Gum catalog is an astronomical catalog of 84 emission nebulae in the southern sky. It was made by the Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924-1960) at Mount Stromlo Observatory using wide field photography. Gum published his findings in 1955 in a study entitled A study of diffuse southern H-alpha nebulae which presented a catalog of 84 nebulae or nebular complexes. Similar catalogs include the Sharpless catalog and the RCW catalog, and many of the Gum objects are repeated in these other catalogs. However, the RCW and Gum catalogs were mainly of the southern hemisphere
NGC 1399 is a large elliptical galaxy in the Southern constellation Fornax, the central galaxy in the Fornax Cluster. The galaxy is 66 million light-years away from Earth. With a diameter of 130 000 light-years, it is one of the largest galaxies in the Fornax Cluster and slightly larger than the Milky Way. William Herschel discovered this galaxy on October 22, 1835.
N44 is an emission nebula with superbubble structure located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way in the constellation Dorado. Originally catalogued in Karl Henize's "Catalogue of H-alpha emission stars and nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds" of 1956, it is approximately 1,000 light-years wide and 160,000-170,000 light-years distant. N44 has a smaller bubble structure inside known as N44F. The superbubble structure of N44 itself is shaped by the radiation pressure of a 40-star group located near its center; the stars are blue-white, very luminous, and incredibly powerful. N44F has been shaped in a similar manner; it has a hot, massive central star with an unusually powerful stellar wind that moves at 7 million kilometers per hour. This is because it loses material at 100 million times the rate of the Sun, or approximately 1,000,000,000,000,000 tons per year. However, varying density in the N44 nebula has caused the formation of several dust pillars that may conceal star formation. This variable density is likely caused by previous supernovae in the vicinity of N44; many of the stars that have shaped it will eventually also end as supernovae. The past effects of supernovae are also confirmed by the fact that N44 emits x-rays.
Star Walk is an educational astronomy smartphone app developed by Vito Technology which allows users to explore celestial objects in real-time. The application was released in 2009 and is compatiable with iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Star Walk has been downloaded by over 10 million users worldwide ever since its release.
Abell 36 is a planetary nebula located 780 light years away in the constellation of Virgo.
Landka is a mobile software development company focused on educational apps. Notable products include Back in Time, Kiwaka and Art Legacy.