The Aerospace Club
A flexible afterschool program based around the video game Kerbal Space Program. Using the history of American spaceflight, students will learn to fly spacecraft in an accurate physics simulation of the solar system.
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Science
Starting with basic scientific principles, experimentation, and hypothesizing, Aerospace Club brings scientific ideas into a new light, where larger than life explosions are safer than ever.
Math
Following the science, patterns emerge. Patterns that can be understood using the universal language of math. Connecting the dots of the problems in Aerospace Club to the algebra.
Engineering
Interpreting complex requirements and physical limitations, then building a unique solution, the opportunity to "try, try again" is at the heart of every part of Aerospace Club.
Two Day Workshop
The Aerospace Club was invited to facilitate a two day workshop in Springfield, Vermont, during the annual Stellafane astronomy convention. Twelve participants, aged 8-80, learned the physics principles behind spaceflight.
Orientation - Explaining objectives, and essential ideas, starting everyone at the same level.
One-on-one direction - Each student learns at their own pace, especially with this wide of an age range!
Deep dives - Adding additional goals and information once basic principals have been absorbed.
Target demographic - About half of the seats were taken by high schoolers, with one exclaiming "this is putting all of honors physics into context!".
An eye-opening experience - Two teachers and one university lecturer attended, and were excited by the possibilities this style of teaching offers.
All ages - Coming together, sharing knowledge and experience, all towards the goal of understanding our world more completely.
By letting participants engage with the whole of the program, this was an important step for refinement. Allowing students to return for both days saw some very encouraging behavior as well, with one participant sharing their knowledge with another, accurately demonstrating how to get to orbit. Peer-to-peer learning is a fantastic way of seeing the material is truly understood, and it's exciting to see it happen so quickly!
Thank you again to Stellafane, hosted by the Springfield Telescope Makers.