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Absolutely! My goal would be to plan a series of experiences prior to the launch that would give the children a real-world understanding of what they're seeing
by cardamomo 10y ago
Absolutely! My goal would be to plan a series of experiences prior to the launch that would give the children a real-world understanding of what they're seeing on the screen. I imagine many of this article's readers who arrive from HN may have a deep understanding of the technical difficulty of what SpaceX is trying to do, especially given their timeframe. How would children understand this event, however, if we simply watched the launch on screen? People hurl giant flying objects through the sky every minute of every day, so what's the big deal?
Creating soda bottle rockets in the classroom and encountering real-world (though kid-level) engineering challenges would be a first step.
- bisby 10y agomy dad always used to joke that the key to flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Which is surprisingly an accurate representation of how orbit works. I find that the biggest thing that is often mistaught/misunderstood is orbital mechanics. You dont get to the moon by aiming directly at the moon. You dont get to mars by aiming directly at mars. Watching lil einsteins with my kid the other day. and in episode one they say "we've left gravity!" as they travel to space. Which clearly is not how it works. I think the falling past the edge of the world repeatedly really helps people get a grasp on how orbit works. and once you get that concept down, you can move the sphere of influence to the sun and get space travel down. Might depend on what grade "elementary" is. Kindergarden might struggle, but I bet 5th grade could handle it.
- lmm 10y agohttps://xkcd.com/1356/ https://xkcd.com/1356/ . Seriously, Kerbal Space Program teaches you so much more and faster than anything else.
- bisby 10y agoYeah. I have an engineering degree but never really thought much about orbital mechanics. My first try at KSP I just overbuilt a rocket and aimed it directly at the mun. I missed. Quickload. Back on target, sudden realization that I need about 6000 dV to slow down in time. Watch a Scott Manley video -> instant understanding. It's definitely one of those things that once you understand it, it's mind boggling how often space is depicted incorrectly.
- yassim 10y agoThats also a Douglas Adams quote from HHGTTG.
- solipsism 10y agoGreat points. I wonder how hard it would be to put parachutes on the bottle rockets. You could put a small landing target on the ground, and offer a small prize if someone hits it (just to pique their interest). Might give the kids a sense of what SpaceX is up against trying to land the first stages (wind, small target) when zero of their rockets float onto the target.
- cardamomo 10y agoThis suggestion reminds me of the classic "egg drop" challenge (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_drop_competition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_drop_competition). Can you land your vehicle without the egg breaking?