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So Begins The Grand Tour (of Kerbol System)

3/19/2015

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I'm finally doing it! The planning has begun. The spaceship designs are almost complete and it is time to blast off our engines on the grand tour of Kerbol System in Kerbal Space Program.

What is this Grand Tour you may ask? Well, only the most difficult maneuver in the history of space exploration of Kerbals and their exploratory shenanigans. 
It works like this:
You take a spaceship and a kerbal (or two if you dare) and then land him (and it's him until we get Valentina Kerbin introduced in the next patch) on every landable object, including moons/satellites but excluding asteroids. All in all, according to my calculations in the video below, it takes about 22-24000 delta V in m/s. It's actually a lot less than I thought it would be, but this is of course assuming I execute a perfect maneuver every time. Will I? Probably not. Most likely not. Actually no, for sure.

So I'll need to bring about 30 000 with me just in case. That's of course not including the extra landing modules I'll be using for every moon and planet and there will be at least 4 of those. The biggest one and the one that will take the most space is the Eve lander - the beast will have to have separate 13 000 m/s capable engine and luckily I have just the right design for that, tested and retested many times.

This whole missions will take me a few weeks to finish and with luck, I'll be able to return back to Kerbin in about 20-30 years (Kerbal time). 

It will be quite an adventurer and I'm looking forward to my first failure/problem or stupidity Kerbal style.
Check out the first part of the planning below

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What Da Math is Mathoria?!

3/13/2015

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No, really. What IS THIS game? I honestly did not want to make a negative review, but I couldn't help it. It combines some of the least fun and most redundant parts from a math class and tries to make them into a game. Who woulda thunk that ...that it was actually a terrible idea and would never work? I really like everything else about the game though - the storyline, the music, the atmosphere and even the 8bit old school RPG graphics (it's made with RPG Maker), but the gameplay is where the game really fails unfortunately. Watch the video to see why.
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Medieval Engineers - The History of Trebuchet

3/13/2015

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The new version of Medieval Engineers allows you to build a trebuchet that actually kinda sorta works. It's still hard to make it work well though as I later find out, so instead I spend most of the time talking about the amazing history of trebuchets and their historical practicality as a siege weapon.
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Terraforming Titan and the Moons of Saturn?

3/13/2015

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A new version of Universe Sandbox 2 was released recently and had a few new features introduced, including a feature called complete fragmentation. Although I still don't get how exactly it's used. It's supposed to turn any solid objects into a bunch of fragments, but doesn't work very well yet.
Anyhoo, what else would I do, but do my favorite thing ever - terraform stuff! I picked Titan as my prime candidate and talked about other moons of Saturn as well (there is more than 60 if you didn't know)
Too long to watch? I succeed at the end! But in a somewhat creative and unusual way.
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Fooling Around in Kerbal Space Program

3/3/2015

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So what do you do when you can't make commentary videos because your voice has been kidnapped by seasonal flu? That's right! You make a music video using the same tools as before.
Big thanks goes to the amazing Kevin MacLeod who's been producing copyright free music for years and letting amateurs like myself use it for creative purposes.
Hopefully you enjoy this somewhat short journey into your personal SOL ITUDE
(get it? Sol means sun!)

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Solar 2 in Education - Space Game Review

2/28/2015

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Solar 2 has been around for quite a while and has been updated and improved over the past 4 years. At this point, the game has been updated to perfection, although its the ease of use and getting into it and start playing that makes this title really great for classrooms.

The idea covered in this game vary between solar evolution and galactic formation and would be great for a class exploring more complex topics like The Big Bang theory and The Big Crunch, which this game emulates really well.

All in all, finishing this title the first time will take you less than an hour, although completing every assignment and every quest will take hours if not days.

All in all, this is great space title for teachers that are willing to introduce game-based learning to their class.
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Is this dress Gold and White or Black and Blue? EXPLAINED!

2/27/2015

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In the following video I will try to explain some of the psychological theories behind this whole dress craziness that took Internet by storm on Feb 27 2015

Watch the video and comment on what you think.
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Terraforming Jupiter's Moon

2/26/2015

1 Comment

 
Universe Sandbox 2 is awesome. I thought I'd start with a compliment. Now let's get on with the rest of this post.
I figured what's more fun than to take a look at all of Jupiter's moons and then terraform the best ones! I'm looking at you, Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa.

It was shockingly easy in the new 13.1 version of the game, but one of those moons really gave me a challenge. I'm sure you'll never guess which.

Take a look at the video here:

Don't forget to leave a comment or a like. Or better even both! Subscribe if you enjoy space, video games, math, science or a combination of all four. 
More videos to come soon!
1 Comment

Hello World

2/21/2015

1 Comment

 
So you want to play video games in class?
Or maybe you're a student and want to recommend a game for your open-minded teacher?

You came to the right place!

This website is dedicated to various successful game-based learning tools which are essentially famous/successful video games that can be used to teach various curricula in class.

Games like Minecraft, Sim City, Civilization, Kerbal Space Program and etc... have already been successfully used and more games will be explored in detail on this site.

Don't confuse this with Educational Games as it's a different concepts.

Welcome and enjoy your stay!

More videos here: 
VIDEO GAME REVIEWS

I also started using Twitter (finally!) and my awesome, nerdy posts can be found here:

WhatDaMath
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    Author

    My name is Anton and I am a math teacher,
    In my time off I am also an avid video gamer with an extensive knowledge of PC gaming both as an entertainment art and an educational tool.
    My research paper at University of Toronto was on educational uses of Minecraft.

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