ellen geerts esero
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Ellen Geerts: Space education: the final frontier?Scientix European Conference, 6-8 May 2011, BrusselsTRANSCRIPT
SPACE EDUCATION: the final frontier?
Scientix ConferenceBrussels
6 - 8 May 2011
Education at ESA
• Lisbon strategy report (2000) -> attract more students towards a career in STEM
• ESA Education Office addresses Europe’s need to build an increasingly knowledge-based society
• How ?
By drawing upon the genuine fascination for spaceflight young people possess, in
order to motivate them to pursue STEM
Education at ESA
• foundation of the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) project
two main objectives:
- to enhance literacy in science and technology using space-related themes and resources
- to encourage career pursuits in STEM fields, and in the space domain in particular
ESERO: genesis of the project
• reaching the primary target audience directly is an impossible task for ESA
• the languages and educational systems are very different from one Member State to another
• ESA’s approach:
- Member State by Member State
- user-driven with the focus on teachers
ESERO: aims and objectives
• establish ESERO contact points in all ESA Member States
• support the specific educational needs of the Member States and their education communities
• get easy access to already existing national education networks in science & technology
ESERO Belgium
• Pilot phase:
- research formal and informal educational environment in Belgium
- foundation for the production and dissemination of new space-related educational material
- launch of the Space Schools program
Space and astronomy in formal education:findings of the preparatory study
• Need for ready-to-use space-related educational material
• Limited science training -> lack of confidence to tackle the theme “space” in class
• Need for specialized teacher trainings
• No access to laboratories for experimentation
• Time to devote to a project is limited
• Limited budgets
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- Launch of the Space schools program:
schools can apply to receive the status and privileges of being a “Space School” by sending in STEM-related project proposals
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- Development and dissemination of educational material and didactic manuals
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- Organizing formal teacher trainings
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- Space workshop for teacher trainees
Why target teacher education studies?
-> in the formal teacher trainings only teachers with an already keen interest in space enrolled
-> in teacher education studies the space workshop is part of the curriculum (= mandatory)
-> teacher trainees are our FUTURE teachers!
ESERO BelgiumSpace workshop for teacher trainees - photos
ESERO Belgium
Space workshop for teacher trainees - photos
Space education in primary school
• Don’t be afraid of the clever questions children will ask -> explore together!
• Hands-on experiences
• Small budget + creativity = awesome experiments/projects
Let’s put it into practice
Quiz time!“Who am I ?”
Who am I ?
I am a planet and …
- I have two moons
- starting from the Sun, I am the first planet after the Earth
- I am also called “the red planet”
- a lot of people think there is life on me
- my name originates from the Roman god of war
- you can also eat me
Mars
Who am I ?I am a planet and …
- I have a ring but I am not Saturn
- to the ancient Romans I am the God of the Skies, Lightning and Thunder
- I have a great red spot which is a huge, long-lasting storm in my atmosphere
- I am a gas giant and I have 61 moons
- On one of my moons you can find active vulcanoes
- I am the biggest planet in our Solar system
Jupiter
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- ESERO scientific educational events
“A day in the life of an astronaut” – october 2009
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- ESERO scientific educational projects
“Aim high!” project – 2010-2011
ESERO BelgiumFirst operational phase:
- Participation in scientific educational events
Greenlight for Girls science day – Brussels nov 2010
Links
• http://www.esa.int/education
• http://www.esa.int/kids
• http://www.esa.int/esero
Questions ?
Ellen Geerts
Projectmanager
ESERO Belgium
www.esa.int/esero
European Space Education Research OfficeAn education project of the European Space Agency