Theory
State the engineering choice you must justify. Stage intent: model vs observation.
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
Point it where you want it.
Telling a spacecraft where to point is easy. Getting it there is the hard part, and it is the controller that does the work. Your team will run the same manoeuvre with two different controllers and find out what a more accurate one actually costs.
Pilot lesson
What to say at Grade 8
These prompts come from the academic layer, so they change with the depth you selected.
Prediction
Predict which option better satisfies the named criterion.
Running the Twin
Use the Twin to gather comparison evidence for your justification. Runtime remains the frozen Twin; this plan does not execute physics.
Checkpoint
Check that your evidence actually supports the criterion.
Analysis
Justify the choice and name at least one model limitation. Evidence intent: attitude/rate plot + calculated/qualitative response comparison.
Engineering decision
Select and defend an engineering option for this mission question.
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 is told to point at a new target. What has to happen?
- ✓ It has to turn, and something has to make it turn
- · It points instantly
- · It waits until it drifts into position
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 tuned controller is better on pointing and worse on wheel demand. Learners who report only the first have read half the evidence.
- One wheel saturation event appears in the tuned run. Ask what happens to a controller whose actuator has run out of authority.
- Instruments are identical in both runs here, unlike the sensing mission. Say so if learners conflate the two.
Can the learner state both what the tuned controller gained and what it cost?
Hold this line
- These results are produced by a model. Nothing here was measured on a real spacecraft.
- The disturbances and reference directions are controlled teaching values, not an orbit-derived environment.
- This lesson does not show that any controller is ready to fly.
Home mission
Home mission: stopping on a line
Walk quickly to a line on the floor and stop exactly on it. Then do it slowly. Write down which was more accurate, which was faster, and what the quick version cost you.
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.