KSP EDU version--teaching teens--advice

[Klapaucius]

Hi,

 

We just finished a trial run with KSP and a group of teenagers at our local library.  This was very seat of the pants and we are looking at improving the way we do things next semester.  In our case, the students are (as they say in New Zealand) from low-decile schools and don't necessarily have great math backgrounds, unfortunately, so we work with what we have.  So our focus is getting them to use KSP to get a visual grasp of orbital mechanics etc without getting much into the math of it (which in doing some internet searching, I see many teachers are doing with AP type classes).

I'd be keen to hear from any teachers about what worked, what did not work etc. 

Also, have any teachers out there used the Kerbal Edu mission library?  https://kerbaledu.com/kerbalmissionlibrary/

Finally, is there a way to preload custom scenarios?  For example, creating a scenario where we land on a moon or orbit a planet without having to spend the limited class time launching etc.  We tried the training scenarios but they are rather bug-filled and inflexible.

Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Klapaucius
Forgot to add tags

[wumpus]

Getting rid of the math will be a bit of a problem, but if they don't have the background to understand ln(massfull/massdry) you won't have the time to build up to that.

Obviously you need to explain orbits, although centripital forces should be easy for anyone (all they need to understand that gravity goes on forever, and is still strong out by the ISS).  Obviously conic sections are relatively easy if you have a cone available for slicing (don't most schools have pre-sliced cones?), although the why pretty much requires multi-variable calculus.  Since KSP works on Kepler's system (not really Newton's), that makes it easier to go with Kepler's non-calculus orbital mechanics (he has a nifty speed/area law which should be understandable with little math).

Getting the rocket equation without math will be a bit of a problem, but it should be clear that to get "more dakka" (delta-v) you need to add more fuel, and more fuel to push the fuel you added, and so on.  Who knows, maybe after having the tyranny of the rocket equation shoved into them by KSP, they will get logarithms.

I'm not sure KSP EDU sells well enough for people to know specific mission issues.  Since this showed up on a non-EDU forum, you might get at least answers from "regular" KSP (like this one).

[steuben]

You're going to need very cook book and cookie cutter stuff.

As you've probably figured explaining exactly where the rocket equation and similar things comes from will be excessive. You'll pretty much have to go with
1. here's your inputs
2. a miracle happens
3. here's the equation
4. here's the Excel sheet that will let you use it.

I'm also going to recommend adding KER to the mix. It abstracts a lot of the rocket equation down to two or three values. Especially if you are doing design with them. Limiting part choices will help as well. 1 or 2 engines of each size, no/few plane parts, no fancy geegaws, etc.

The up coming DLC iirc will allow for custom scenarios. The work around would be use Hyperedit  and create a series of save games and distribute those around the workstations. I think the availability of buildings can be hacked in the persistence file.

[AloE]

@Klapaucius old thread, but I see you are quite active in the forums...nice to hear about your activity with the kids...would be good to hear what happened in the 2nd semester last year...even if it was difficult.

The EDU energy spheres are a fun & great tool especially for ballistic or elliptical or orbital transfer activities.

As a new item for anyone in a similar situation who comes across this thread...SLIPPIST-1 is great just to add to either KerbalEDU or KSP as a visual lesson in the Tracking Station or KSC (for transits) in combo with some of the cool NASA & ESA images...as you know, but others who view this in the future may not...GameData is the most important folder in Kerbal of all forms...

I'm active over in the KerbalEDU forum segment & will do my bit to help enable others to use the power of Kerbal in the remarkable community, EDU, & KSP forms...especially trying to clarify the items that took me awhile to figure out when new to Kerbal.

The current KerbalEDU mission editor & mission library are powerful tools, however they do require skill with computers & basic scripting & have a learning curve...fortunately the KerbalEDU mission Editor did encourage KSP to create its own Mission Builder.

On behalf of the continuation of improvement of KSP in general, I recommend that we all encourage KerbalEDU to leapfrog KSP the next step again with their next version of the "EDU mission editor"

TG's separate licensing structure is also valuable to KSP's future in my assessment.

Edited September 5, 2018 by AloE
browser being a pain not rendering properly

[Bill Phil]

You could make scenarios by building ships and editing the persistence file to put them into orbit over another planet or moon.