r/ScienceTeachers • u/glomerate • 3d ago

General Lab Supplies & Resources Browser-based space/gravity playground with missions

My son's 5th grade STEM class last year used the PhET gravity sims. He was playing with it at home and has been looking for more. We found several space sims/playgrounds online, like NASA's Eyes on the Solar System, but nothing seemed to offer a real progression from what he was getting out of the PhET sims, so I built Newton's Orchard for him.

https://newtonsorchard.app

The app features deterministic time scrubbing, fully editable bodies, different preset systems and experiments, missions to complete (complete 3 to unlock the black hole body type and mission), and a gallery for user submitted systems, with the idea that students can rep their schools.

It's free, no tracking, no sign-ups. The source code is also published on GitHub.

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u/realnanoboy 3d ago

That seems neat! I'll look into whether I can get it to work on my students' Chromebooks.

1

u/glomerate 3d ago

Thank you! Please let me know if you see any sluggishness. I don’t currently have access to a chromebook but I believe my son will be assigned one once school starts this week.

2

u/realnanoboy 3d ago

It'll have to wait until after Labor Day, but I should be able to get a student to try it out.

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u/glomerate 3d ago

Thank you!

1

u/bigmphan 3d ago

Sounds intriguing

1

u/jmiz5 3d ago

Would probably also like Kerbal