Theory
Name what you will observe in familiar language. Stage intent: high vs low load.
For teachers
Prepare a mission
Everything you need to run the lesson: the prompts for this academic depth, the diagnostic answer key, the misconceptions to watch for, and the truth boundary to hold.
Choose the mission and depth
Survive the dark side.
Every orbit, your spacecraft passes behind the Earth. For that stretch there is no sunlight, no power from the panels, and everything has to run off the battery. Your team will send two different spacecraft through the same shadow and work out which one comes through it in better shape.
Pilot lesson
What to say at Grade 6
These prompts come from the academic layer, so they change with the depth you selected.
Prediction
Predict a simple trend (higher/lower, sooner/later) before running the Twin.
Running the Twin
Run the Twin once and describe what you see. Runtime remains the frozen Twin; this plan does not execute physics.
Checkpoint
Check that your observation matches the mission question in simple words.
Analysis
Explain the trend without using hidden hashes or professional jargon. Evidence intent: power table/budget + plot + operating recommendation.
Engineering decision
Choose a simple next action and say why it is safer or clearer.
Limitation
Name at least one frozen-model limitation that this experiment cannot answer.
Provenance
Keep simulated, simulated_sensor, estimator_state, derived, reference, and measured distinct. Never label simulated as measured.
Diagnostic answer key
A spacecraft passes into the Earth shadow. What happens to the electricity its solar panels make?
- ✓ It stops, because no sunlight reaches them
- · It doubles, because the panels are cooler
- · It stays the same, because the panels store light
Timing
One session. Adjust freely — the sequence matters more than the clock.
| When | Stage | What you are doing |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 min | Mission brief and outcomes | Set the mission question and the success criterion. |
| 10–20 | Diagnostic | Surface prior ideas. No score — this is for you, not them. |
| 20–35 | Visual theory | Work the concept visual. Ask for the idea in their own words. |
| 35–45 | Prediction | Every learner commits in writing before any run. |
| 45–60 | Twin investigation | Baseline first, then the candidate case. |
| 60–70 | Evidence and decision | Compare, choose, and state one limitation. |
| 70–80 | Assessment and result | Formative only. Collect the written reasoning. |
| Home | Home mission | Software-only extension. No hardware, no account. |
Facilitation and the truth boundary
While they work
- The larger spacecraft generates more and consumes more. Draw that out - learners often expect only the generation to change.
- Both spacecraft consume more than they generate across the run. That is what the battery is for, and it is worth stating explicitly.
- Keep temperature and charge separate. Learners frequently claim the cold drained the battery.
Can the learner cite both the generated and consumed energy, and explain why a shortfall over one orbit is not automatically a failure?
Hold this line
- The battery, voltage and temperature numbers are produced by a model. Nothing here was measured on a real spacecraft.
- The two spacecraft are teaching profiles, not real hardware designs.
- This lesson does not show that either design would survive a real mission, and it is not evidence that a design is ready to fly.
Home mission
Home mission: the energy budget
Over one orbit the small satellite made 5.22 Wh and used 9.54 Wh. Work out the difference. Then write one sentence explaining why a spacecraft can use more than it makes for part of an orbit and still be fine.
Tell us what did not work
Ten questions, answered locally. Nothing is submitted or tracked — you download the file and send it if you want to.
Informal educator feedback
This local-first form contains the ten approved pilot-review questions. It does not submit, track, or store data remotely. Optional name/contact should be handled outside this form only if a reviewer volunteers it.