Using the Demo in a school club

[JenBurdoo]

I've just been temporarily assigned as a teen librarian, and have a STEM program coming up. I've gotten permission to run the KSP 1.0 Demo on the teen tech lab Macs and have gotten it to work. But now -- what to do with it? (KerbalEDU is not an option at the moment.)

- Demonstrate it on a projector to show the controls, staging, tips etc?

- Demonstrate it on a projector and get the teens to tell me how to fly and improve a ship until it gets into orbit?

- Demonstrate how orbits work?

- Have them try for a given goal (distance, height, orbit, the Mun)?

Also, I've notice 1.0 atmo is hell on my launches - they overheat on the way up and then the parachutes fail to work on the way down. Turn the heating off or down? The demo seems to have no heatshield or fairings, also I'm having trouble keeping the capsule stable as it falls back into atmo. I can see these being frustrating for new players.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Get the full version and demonstrate how to blow up the KSC. (Dont know if you can do that in the Demo)

That will get them interested

-

Keep it simple though.

Heat, drag and such are hard to get a head around.

Edited May 9, 2015 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[Yukon0009]

Get the full version and demonstrate how to blow up the KSC. (Dont know if you can do that in the Demo)

That will get them interested

That most likely won't be good, we want them to lean about space, not use it as a micheal bay sim.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

That most likely won't be good, we want them to lean about space, not use it as a micheal bay sim.

True

[Xavven]

I've just been temporarily assigned as a teen librarian, and have a STEM program coming up. I've gotten permission to run the KSP 1.0 Demo on the teen tech lab Macs and have gotten it to work. But now -- what to do with it? (KerbalEDU is not an option at the moment.)

- Demonstrate it on a projector to show the controls, staging, tips etc?

- Demonstrate it on a projector and get the teens to tell me how to fly and improve a ship until it gets into orbit?

- Demonstrate how orbits work?

- Have them try for a given goal (distance, height, orbit, the Mun)?

Also, I've notice 1.0 atmo is hell on my launches - they overheat on the way up and then the parachutes fail to work on the way down. Turn the heating off or down? The demo seems to have no heatshield or fairings, also I'm having trouble keeping the capsule stable as it falls back into atmo. I can see these being frustrating for new players.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Of your list, demonstrating how orbits work is the most educational. Before I played KSP, I had no idea that burning prograde would raise the OPPOSITE end of your orbit. I also had no idea that radial burns would rotate your orbit like a hula-hoop.

And normal/anti-normal burns in orbit bear a striking similarity to the behavior of torque on a gyroscope. The orbital plane changes in the same way that a gyroscope's plane of rotation changes when a moment is applied to its axle (or how lift is applied to a helicopter in response to cyclic input

).

You should also launch a rocket straight up and show them the resulting orbit (which will be suborbital). Then launch with a gravity turn. This explains that orbiting is about going sideways (https://what-if.xkcd.com/58/)

[jackless]

- Demonstrate it on a projector and get the teens to tell me how to fly and improve a ship until it gets into orbit?

As it is for the STEM program, your second sugestion could do it.

It could be nice to introduce them to the Engineering Design Process as it goes with your sugestion.

Start with a problem "Jeb want to go to space, How can he get there?"

They will probably respond by you need a rocket.

Build the simpliest rocket you can "Cabin, LFO tank, engine"

Test it

Analyze the result "Jeb got to 3km up then fall to is death" and ask them "was there someting missing from our rocket?"

Add parachute and more tanks

retest, reanalyze failure ... until you get to orbit.

hope this can help.

[Reddeyfish]

The best plan depends on what your goal is.

If they're already interested in STEM, then demonstrating orbital mechanics would be the most useful (being in space via suborbital hop vs. being in orbit, what burning in the various directions do).

If you're trying to get them interested in STEM, then doing the engineering design process (second on your list) to get into orbit would be much more engaging than the lecture/demonstration of orbital mechanics. I'm not too sure what rocket engines the demo has, but you can deal with the heating by not going as fast. (also, when overheating happens, you can point out the mach effects and explain the idea of drag in general)

Edited May 9, 2015 by Reddeyfish

[JenBurdoo]

It's more the "get them interested" side of things; this is pretty much a STEM program already but more focused on computers, film, music, etc, and there is little gaming yet. I very much like the idea of the "Engineering Design Process." Thanks for that. There is a projector and screen I can put up nearby so I am leaning more and more towards using it for a demonstration -- at the very least using it to get their attention with things blowing up horribly (Is the F12 function that lets me throw things available in the demo?), but still leaning towards "Jeb wants to get into space. What should we do to get him there?" Have been experimenting, though I can barely get 1.0 to work at home so I don't have a lot of time with it. I've discovered that the Stayputnik is virtually uncontrollable so I need a crewed capsule... so far I have not been able to get the instructional-launch craft into orbit and it does not contain a chute so the pilot keeps getting killed on the way down!

I am planning to provide control-instruction sheets from the KerbalEDU site. Once I demonstrate the controls and the design process, I'll set them at the five or six computers the game will be loaded on and let them at it for an hour or two, but I'm not sure what their task, if any, should be. I may want to have this be a regular thing and so just have them launch a safe flight for the first session, get into orbit the next, make it to the Mun the third... Or I could give them a goal like "Who can get their ship the farthest around Kerbin?" If I set them a simple goal, I'd want to avoid teaching them the basic things to avoid so they could work it out themselves... Thoughts?

This is a regular library teen group and the games will probably stay on the 'puters for the kids to play regularly. I'll have a display of NASA books as well, and maybe play a couple music videos beforehand (Fire in the Sky from my sig, for example).

[Robotengineer]

Whenever I see a thread about using KSP with kids or schools, there is always a post saying "oh, [Aero, Orbital Mechanics, rocket science, etc] is way over their heads." Then I think, A) we way underestimate our children, or I was an exceptionally bright child. I really hope it is A), not .

I would show them the basic orbital mechanics, a trip to the Mun and back would be a great intro to the game. If/when someone asks the "What is this good for anyway?" question, try to tell them about all the different innovations that influence their day-to-day lives.

[luizopiloto]

Watch ApolloXIII... then play KSP...

[JenBurdoo]

It's not that I'm concerned they won't understand it, I'm just torn between showing it to them and letting them work it out (or research it!) on their own. They are high-schoolers and, as a librarian, I'm ultimately trying to get them to read... although I should point out that all the astronaut memoirs I've read, while inspiring and full of great details and imagery, said virtually nothing about orbital mechanics, which I learned purely through the process of trying to play KSP!

[pandaman]

Hmm. ..

'Trying to get them to read'... And your plan is to introduce them to the most addictive computer game in history

[JenBurdoo]

How else are they going to get ideas, figure out how to orbit, or work out their d/v? Seriously, my typical campaign recreates real missions... and there is an awesome KSPHistory site out there. I'm gonna leave a stack of books by the 'puters and talk them up. It might take awhile, but that stack will get smaller. I've seen it happen.

[pandaman]

Sorry, my humour probably didn't come across in the written word very well.

I actually think it's a great idea, I wish oprions like that were available in my school days. I think the potential for KSP to teach and encourage further research is huge if introduced to the right students, and I get the impression that yours probably are.

Go for it, and good luck.

[JenBurdoo]

The program didn't go great on the day; I had maybe a dozen people watching but only three who played, and no books went out. I left the games on the Macs, though. I've been slowly running through the demo career on my lunch hour and when I do, teens who weren't there for the program ask what I'm doing and want to try it. I had three of them working at it for hours today trying to play. Their biggest success so far was a terribly unbalanced and oddly-staged beast that disappeared in a tremendous explosion. They love it -- two are planning to download the demo at home and one wants to get the full game. They also expressed interest when I brought in real space science and missions in response to their questions, like Apollo 10 (explaining how atmo slows and heats up capsules) and Shoemaker-Levy 9 (what would happen if an asteroid hit Jupiter -- surprise, it already has!). I'll bring in a couple books tomorrow, and I'm vaguely hoping to engender enough interest to talk the county into coughing up for the full game -- IIRC, KerbalEDU sells it for $17 to educational institutions.

Another thing I do with them regularly is twenty-questions-style brainteasers, AKA Lateral Thinking Puzzles. I know a few related to the space program (mostly borrowed from the surprisingly comedic writings of Michael Collins), and they're slowly chewing over one now.

[Robotengineer]

astronautix.com (Encylopedia Astronautica) is a good resource for missions and space vehicles that your students might be interested in.

[DarkGravity]

as a librarian, I'm ultimately trying to get them to read...

Our entire civilization is undergoing rapid change. I suspect the role of the librarian ten years from now will be quite different than the role of a librarian ten years ago. Is it possible there is a higher goal than getting them to read? Such as getting them to engage in self-directed learning regardless of the medium? I don't want to rock the boat too much here, cuz you might be the one who falls overboard. But it is always good to check your assumptions before undertaking a project.

[JenBurdoo]

DarkGravity: No, you're absolutely right. A library today does not just hand out books; it's a clearing center for all sorts of info, from e-books to videos to online learning to books to art. The paradigm is actually already what you think it's going to be, and has been for going on decades. What I'm really hoping for (which I may not have made clear) is that the kids want to learn about the wonders of science and reality -- and there are any number of ways for them to do that. Reading blogs like the Bad Astronomer, watching Youtube vids or movies like Apollo 13, or reading astronaut memoirs in hardcopy, on a Kindle or computer screen. Self-directed learning is the name of the game and the librarian's role today is to help make that learning possible by being familiar with as many options as possible and either matching them to the patron or showing the patron how to find what she wants on her own.

We live in South Florida and it's hurricane season. We'll go outside and look at clouds, or I'll provide resources on the Hurricane Hunters squadron, or show them the Earth from space and how satellites tell us where the storms are going.

The summer reading theme this year (across the country) is "Every Hero Has a Story." They can try to make Jeb and Val into heroes, or they can read about the real Valentina Tereshkova, or I can show them filksongs on Youtube, or Apollo 13, or The Right Stuff, and then suggest they try to recreate those in KSP.

They're trying to solve lateral thinking puzzles right now that, thus far unbeknownst to them, are cribbed from the real history of space and aviation.

There are a million options, and my only regret is that I haven't time to try them all.

Edited May 28, 2015 by JenBurdoo

[JenBurdoo]

I'm told by tech center staff that a few kids are playing KSP even when I'm not present, so I think the bug has bitten! I should have some time on Monday to run it as well.