Kerbal Space Program

Kerbal Space Program encapsulates so many of the things we should encourage in education: goal setting, experimentation, dealing with repeated setbacks, problem solving and fun!

Kerbal Space Program consists of several modes, including 'sandbox' and 'career' modes. Sandbox gives players access to all of the parts from the beginning, whereas career mode requires players to earn parts through completing missions. These missions range in difficulty from just taking off, to achieving certain heights, to landing on the Mun (Moon) and elsewhere.

By playing Kerbal Space Program, children learn about concepts including forces, orbital mechanics, propulsion and engineering in a fun way. All children will be able to attach a fuel tank to a cockpit with a rocket engine and launch a rocket, maybe even into space! Children will then naturally want to set their own challenges, improving their control of vehicles and pushing themselves further.

Controlling vehicles is achieved through pressing the 'w', 'a', 's' and 'd' keys to change the direction of the rocket. 'Shift' and 'control' keys throttle up and down and 'space' separates stages of the rockets at opportune moments.

Achieving a stable orbit is a challenging, but achievable task. Players must launch a rocket with enough fuel, before gradually turning to a heading of 90 (this is called a gravity turn). Through doing this, children learn the principle that orbit is falling, while moving forward with enough velocity.

Once an orbit has been achieved, players can burn further to extend their orbit beyond Kerbin's (Earth's) influence and encounter other planets and moons. This is challenging, but there are some excellent tutorials on YouTube to help with this, Scott Manley's being among the best.

Kerbal Space Program might be best used in schools for an after-school club, or a time when unstructured learning could take place. It does feature a significant amount of maths, although no graphs or data collection tools are readily available. It is also possible to program the rockets to launch and separate, although I will save this for a later blog.

I have used Kerbal Space Program in different schools and it has always been very popular. It is a great way to demonstrate the principles of engineering in an exciting and accessible way. Kerbal Space Program is available to buy on Steam, often at a discounted price.