I've spent months looking for something like this on the net and only found links to amazons and dozens of books.
The problem here is the contents of these books, you just don't know until you get it. So what I did was read a gazillion web pages and links and looked at a lot of 'demos'.
When I came across the Navigator demo it looked to be the best bang-for-buck, but it assumes you already know a bit about navigation. at that stage I knew less than nothing, but knew what I wanted to know (hang on let me refill my wine glass - before I do a rumsfeld on you). I played with it for hours and slowly worked out the story. the easiest item is the 'starfinder'.
Your question about software teaching you - no idea but there is so much stuff in there I'm sure you can work it out. I've still have a lot to go through and have learn't a lot in the process.
more later
