{"id":573,"date":"2013-05-02T18:10:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T22:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/?p=573"},"modified":"2013-05-02T18:10:19","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T22:10:19","slug":"kerbals-in-space-gamifying-the-physics-of-space-exploration-physics-physicsed-ksp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/aplusphysics\/kerbals-in-space-gamifying-the-physics-of-space-exploration-physics-physicsed-ksp\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerbals in Space?  Gamifying the Physics of Space Exploration #physics #physicsed #KSP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, not long ago I came across a sandbox simulation software package \/ game called Kerbal Space Program. \u00a0It allows you to build space vehicles on the fictional\u00a0planet of Kerbal, launch the vehicles, attempt to put Kerbals into orbit, help them travel to other planets, etc. etc. \u00a0Cute. \u00a0But as I looked into it a little more, it has quite a bit of scientific and educational merit. \u00a0The physics modeling is pretty good, the game is extremely addictive, and I believe it could be a great way to help students in my AP Physics C course transition from pure physics to applied physics and engineering in our last few weeks of school following the AP Exam. \u00a0So I bought the game. \u00a0Or, rather, I bought a copy, and the school bought five copies for the kids!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left;\" title=\"screenshot0.png\" src=\"http:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/screenshot0.png\" alt=\"Screenshot0\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Right now I&#8217;m still working out the details of the project. \u00a0In general, though, I think it&#8217;d be fun to have the kids work through the simulation with a set of challenges as part of a &#8220;space race.&#8221; \u00a0Each group of 3 students will form their own space exploration team. \u00a0With safety of all Kerbals as their prime directive, they will be asked to complete a series of tasks, documenting and analyzing their work along with each design and launch, and sharing their findings with the other teams through the use of blogging. \u00a0In this manner, we&#8217;ll begin to combine technical writing, project management, and even risk management with an addictive game centered around physics principles!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m thinking their challenges may look something like:<\/li>\n<li>Launch an unmanned rocket<\/li>\n<li>Launch a manned rocket safety<\/li>\n<li>Safely put a Kerbal in orbit (and bring him home)<\/li>\n<li>Safely land a Kerbal on the Mun (and bring him home)<\/li>\n<li>Safely land a Kerbal on a distant planet (and bring him home)<\/li>\n<li>etc.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: right;\" title=\"screenshot2.png\" src=\"http:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/screenshot2.png\" alt=\"Screenshot2\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" border=\"0\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In just playing with the sim for a few minutes tonight, I managed to put a Kerbal in orbit, but them promptly left him there as I played around with an extra-vehicular activity walk\u2026 and then couldn&#8217;t bring him back in as my command pod was out of fuel. \u00a0Should be a hoot to see how the kids do, and if anyone else has played with the sim, wants to join us in our &#8220;experiment,&#8221; etc., we&#8217;d love to work with others!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, not long ago I came across a sandbox simulation software package \/ game called Kerbal Space Program. \u00a0It allows you to build space vehicles on the fictional\u00a0planet of Kerbal, launch the vehicles, attempt to put Kerbals into orbit, help <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/aplusphysics\/kerbals-in-space-gamifying-the-physics-of-space-exploration-physics-physicsed-ksp\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Kerbals in Space?  Gamifying the Physics of Space Exploration #physics #physicsed #KSP<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[323,325,322,324],"class_list":["post-573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aplusphysics","tag-gravity","tag-kerbals","tag-ksp","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/flux\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}