Agents of Discovery, a free educational mobile gaming app, uses augmented reality to motivate kids of all ages to actively explore and learn more about the outdoors.
State Parks staff have designed two missions (or games) — one for the Franklin Ghost Town and one for Saint Edward State Park.
Within each mission are 10 challenges that are activated through GPS when you visit certain areas in the park. Some of these challenges will be hidden at first, but they will pop up on the mission screen as you walk around the park and get close enough to the location of each marker. When they appear, tap on the marker to begin the challenge. You will be asked to solve a problem or answer a question. For each completed challenge, you'll receive points, up to a total of three, if you complete the challenge successfully on the first try.
The Franklin Townsite Mission
The Franklin Townsite was once the site of a bustling coal mining community in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The town had a railroad, general store and housing for the coal workers. Today, you can find an old cemetery and remnants from the coal mining industry.
The Franklin Mission contains 10 challenges, including:
- A visit to the Franklin Cemetery
- Wildlife that live in the area
- History of the 1894 mining disaster
- How coal carts were pulled out of the mines
- Life as a miner
- The Franklin baseball team
- Trees growing in the area
- The Franklin Hotel
- A short history of the Franklin Townsite
Check out our review of the Agents of Discovery App when we tried it out at a different location.
Photo: The old Franklin Hotel.
