EHC Mission IV. Introduction. Age of Student(s) Objectives. Author: TeacherGaming Date: September 15, 2015

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1 EHC Mission IV Author: TeacherGaming Date: September 15, 2015 Introduction This physics-oriented mission will focus on different forms of energy. It will also introduce the student to a methodology of solving problems in the game by testing various theories to see if they hold up. Students will build their own rockets for testing, continuing to learn about rocket assembly in the process. Age of Student(s) 10yo. - 17yo. Objectives Game concepts: Assembly: Linear attachment Use of Flight Recorder Physics concepts: Potential Energy Kinetic Energy Working skills: Testing theories 1/6

2 Timeline The mission consists of two parts: first exploring potential energy and the second kinetic energy. Each part takes minutes to complete. 2/6

3 Learning Activities Rocket science The first mission tasks the students with building their own rocket. Unlike previous missions where students built with limited parts or based on blueprints, this time the students can use all the parts in the game. This wealth of options can bring about problems as well: different types of engines need different fuel, students need to consider resource flow between parts and certain parts require electric charge to function to name a few. Best advice you can give is start small: encourage the students to design simple rockets and only start adding new parts one at a time to see how it affects the rocket. However, this time their task is to build a simple rocket to test potential energy. A good guideline is to start with a barebone rocket that has a command pod, fuel tank and an engine. Use resource flow analysis to help students visualize where the fuel is stored and used to make sure they are connected and activating a stage won't drop you only source of electric charge if you need it. Activate resource flow analysis by pressing on the Edu-button in the lower right corner and selecting Show resource flow analysis from the window that opens. Point your students to Engineer's report that show basic information about the vessel and points out obvious flaws in the design. It can be found next to the Edu-button in the lower right corner. Studying potential energy After building their new rockets, students are tasked with using them to study potential energy. After they launch the rocket, the Flight Recorder starts up. They are prompted to use the slider below the graphs to find and activate potential energy (see screenshot below). At the end of the flight they will be asked to how altitude affects potential energy. When the rocket starts its decent, will potential energy increase or decrease? The students' task is to record potential energy and altitude at the highest point of the flight. If you want, you can also ask them to record potential energy at different altitudes to make comparisons between flights and in the classroom between different rockets. Suggested altitudes: 500, 1,000 & 5,000 meters. After the flight students will be asked to add another fuel tank to increase the mass of the vehicle to show how it affects potential energy. Make sure they add something small enough so their rocket can still take 3/6

4 off from the launch pad! Remind the students to compare the potential energy values when they reach the altitude of the first flight. At the end of the flight, students need figure out whether the additional fuel tank increased or decreased potential energy (or whether it remained unaffected). Note that mass decreases as fuel is consumed. Mass will not remain constant between launch and landing. You can ask students to figure this out by pointing out that the graph evens out when mass decreases. Kinetic energy Like with potential energy, students will need to test the effect of various variables on kinetic energy. All they are told is that object has kinetic energy when it moves. Their task is to determine whether Mass Altitude Gee force Velocity have an effect on the kinetic energy of the rocket. The mission instructions will suggest they use Flight Recorder to establish a connection between the two factors (e.g. Gee force and kinetic energy) but you can also device your own tests for each variable. You can also assign groups to explore different variables: mass for group one, altitude for group two etc. This is the first open-ended problem they need to solve so you may want to begin with a common brainstorming session before beginning the tests. Work and energy The last activity is an open-ended question about the relationship of work and energy. Students can explore how changes in kinetic and potential energy are equal to the work done. 4/6

5 You can ask them to demonstrate this in the game or collect data to show it. 5/6

6 Assessment While understanding how kinetic and potential work is essential, you'll have plenty of opportunities to assess students' working skills as well. Pay attention to how they are able to test different theories during the mission and can they back their arguments with data or observations from the game. Alignment with Curricula and Standards 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-PS3-2 Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system. 6/6