Out of Fuel
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Out of Fuel.sfs
Additional Material
This lesson works as an introduction to the Newton’s First Law of Motion. It provides structured scenario with clear goals and learning targets for students. The scenario is aimed for students who have some experience of Kerbal EDU and it tests their creativity.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
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Learn what is Newton’s First Law: “Law of Inertia”
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Know about balance of the forces.
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Understand key elements of forces: inertia, friction and angular forces.
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Learn basic spacecraft and EVA (extravehicular activity) controls in KerbalEDU.
Timeline: The lesson plan is designed to span a 60-minute lesson.
Materials: KerbalEDU installed on the student computers, lesson plan. “Out of fuel” mission from KerbalEDU mission library. Some keyboard maps printed for students.
Grouping: KerbalEDU doesn’t support multiplayer. However students can share computers so pairing can be used in this lesson.
Next Generation Science Standards
MS-PS2-1
Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
MS-PS2-2. Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
MS-PS2-4
Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
MS-PS3-1
Construct and interpret graphical displays of data to describe the relationships of kinetic energy to the mass of an object and to the speed of an object.
MS-PS2-2
Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object.
MS-ETS1-2
Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
MS-ETS1-3
Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
HS-PS2-1
Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration.