Educational Tool tips?

[bodyn]

I've really, really enjoyed playing with the Universe Sandbox the last few months.  I poked around a bit and didn't see anything specific on my question, so here goes:

Is anyone using the Universe Sandbox as an educational tool?  I'm looking into integrating it into material for ~5th grade students.  Even if not, does anyone have ideas for things to do or try (demos or interactive experiments)?  My biggest idea at the moment is a somewhat interactive tour of our solar system, following Voyager 2's journey.  I've also had ideas about demonstrating how to save Earth from a direct collision with an asteroid via the "gravity tractor" method...

Thanks!

[vh]

Well, you can try collisions, show retrograde orbit, the solar system. Although there is no tour of the solar system, there is a simulation of Voyager 1/2 i think. You can show galaxy collisions, the formation of the moon, black holes, ring formation, and i'll try to put together a gravity tractor method simulation later if i have time.

[bodyn]

Cool!  I played with the Voyager scenarios, but the spacecraft looks like a cube of steak  ... any suggestions on an appropriate directx .x model? 

[vh]

well this is the first one i found, but there are probably millions if you google it.

http://www.the3dstudio.com/product_details.aspx?id_product=6247

some thread on 3d models

http://universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/topic,4187.msg39488.html#msg39488

http://universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/topic,3437.msg35994.html#msg35994

[vh]

I've tried to make a sim for

'I've also had ideas about demonstrating how to save Earth from a direct collision with an asteroid via the "gravity tractor" method...'

Anyway, after several hours, it's pretty impossible so far , just not accurate enough.

[bodyn]

Wow, thanks for giving it a try!  Is there a sim for an asteroid hitting Earth?  That would still be worth demoing...

[vh]

Try this:

1. select a planet
2. click the launch icon, looks like a little crosshair thing.
3. press 'f' to launch objects

[bodyn]

I can't believe I never noticed that before...    So cool!   

[Dan Dixon]

Thanks for the great question about using Universe Sandbox in an educational setting.

I've heard from a number of teachers who are doing this, but I haven't heard specifics on what or how.

We've recently added Eric, an astronomer, to the team. He's finishing up work on his post-doc over the next few months but will be working on helping us make Universe Sandbox more useful in educational settings as well as developing materials like what you're asking for.

I also want to setup a wiki (been saying this for a while) where educators and users can share lesson plans and activities.

Be sure to run through the "Fun Things To Do" list of activities from the main menu. That should be helpful too.

(and thanks to mudkipz for you answers and ideas)