For over 40 years, Metcalf Archaeology™ focused on educating the public about archaeology, cultural heritage, and historic preservation. However, while we would write our findings into reports, we found it wasn’t the best way to share information with the public (who wants to read boring reports?). We set out to find a unique way to share the fascinating sites and pieces of the human past we worked on. With these ideas in mind, Metcalf launched FactorEarth™ in 2018. We launched FactorEarth™ with the goal of making our heritage immersive and easy to interact with. We wanted to make the inaccessible easier to reach and do our part in educating the public of meaningful experiences about our culture, environment, history, and more. With public education in mind, we’ve worked to make the inaccessible… accessible.
FactorEarth™ Explore
In July 2021, FactorEarth™ launched its first app, FactorEarth™ Explore. Explore brings the incredible stories about cultural heritage and history to the public by using virtual reality. Curious Explorers can discover the narratives every place holds and immerse themselves in the 360° images. We provide a safe place to find authentic, fact-based stories. By creating a single place to explore, users are now discovering and visiting new places with Explore. With the app, a user can Explore onsite, from the comfort of their home, or even from the classroom. Explore gives users the opportunity to learn about the world around them for free. Learning about our world through a trustworthy resource shouldn’t be a hassle or only available to those who can pay for a tool or resource.
Small Towns with Big Histories
Just because a town is small, doesn’t mean their stories are small! Not only does FactorEarth™ educate on places like Downtown Denver and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, but also the areas that aren’t as well known. Our goal is to tell the lost or forgotten stories found in communities and share them with the world for others to learn about through an easily accessible platform.
“My mother would always say, ‘we’re from the part of Colorado they never put on the postcards’…” Katie Peterson, the Public Education Coordinator for FactorEarth™, said. “…but my grandfather used to tell me all kinds of stories about the rich history this area had to offer.”
With Explore, these stories and histories can be told with the help of images of the place, historic pictures, videos, and more. Each marker, or Discovery, includes photos, pieces of information that help make each place special.
Places that don’t receive as much attention as others have a common issue of not having their stories told to a larger audience. They have so much to share with the world, but nowhere to share it. These places need their stories shared with the public and also preserved for future generations. With Explore, users can visit places like the Boggsville Historic Site or Bent’s Old Fort and learn about their amazing histories.
Lessons for Life
In addition to educating the public, we also want to do our part in educating our future communities. Some Adventures have free, ready-made lesson plans for educators and parents to use! By visiting Educators’ Corner, you can search our lesson plans by state and grade level. With our lesson plans, students can Explore places like Danger Cave or the Red Rocks Amphitheatre from the safety of the classroom. The FactorEarth™ lesson plans were made by teachers, for teachers. Katie is a former teacher who now focuses on public outreach with FactorEarth™ and Metcalf Archaeology™. We created all of our lesson plans with the Adventure’s state educational standards. Every lesson plan includes a low or no cost hands-on project. Each lesson plan is unique, meaning a wide range of learning abilities can participate.
Incorporating FactorEarth™ Explore into your classroom gives students the opportunity to learn about the secret wonders of their city, state, or country while making it fun. Students no longer need to read about amazing places in their textbooks, but Explore them with virtual reality.
You can find our free lesson plans on our Educators’ Corner page.
Go Explore
As a free app, you can access Explore anywhere. Learn about the places around us, whether you’re stopping by Red Rocks on your vacation, inspiring fourth graders to create their own hotel like the Astor House, or Exploring Golden, Colorado from the comfort of your couch.
So, what are you waiting for? Go Explore!