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 Saint Edward State Park Mission
Before Saint Edward became a state park, it was Catholic seminary, which was blessed by the pope after the seminary building was completed in 1931. Saint Edward was the first fully accredited seminary in the United States. Saint Edward closed in 1976 due to declining enrollment, and State Parks acquired the building and site in 1977.
The Saint Edward Mission also has 10 challenges, including:
- A short history of Saint Edward State Park
- A visit to the Grotto
- The Native Plant Learning Garden
- Activities available at Saint Edward
- The relationship between trees and salmon
- The Orchard
Check out our review of the Agents of Discovery App when we tried it out at a different location.
