Presentation at 'Astronomy Education Allicance Meeting' hosted by EPSC and GHOU from 8 to 12 September 2014 in Cascais, Portugal.

1. →EDUCATION @ ESA
Inspiring the future
Rebecca Barnes, HE Space Operations for ESA – European Space Agency
Education Officer, Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration

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20 Member States
18 states of the EU (AT, BE, CZ,
DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IT, GR, IE, LU,
NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, UK) plus
Norway and Switzerland
Eight other EU states have
Cooperation Agreements with ESA:
Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia,
Cyprus, Lithuania Malta and Slovakia.
Bulgaria is negotiating a Cooperation
Agreement
Canada takes part in some
programmes under a Cooperation
Agreement
20 Member States and growing

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 Space science
 Human spaceflight
 Exploration
 Earth observation
 Launchers
ESA cover nearly all areas of space activity
Space, according to ESA
 Navigation
 Telecommunications
 Technology
 Operations

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ESA education objectives
1. Motivate and enable young people to enhance their literacy &
competence in sciences and technology (STEM disciplines)
2. Inspire and enable young people to consider pursuing a career
in the STEM field, in the space domain in particular
3. Contribute to increase young
peoples awareness of the
importance of space research,
exploration and applications in
modern society and economy

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Wide target: 4-28 years old
Challenges
 More than 80 million school-age
students, 7 million teachers
 20 Member State countries
 15 languages
 Different lower education systems and
curricula
 Lack of interest in STEM, girls in
particular
 Shortage of specialised workforce in
the space sector
Targets & challenges
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Primary
Lower secondary
Upper secondary
Tertiary

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 A network of national contact points in ESA’s Member States targeting
teachers/educators community
 Co-funded by ESA and national funding bodies (partnerships)
 Supporting primary & secondary STEM education using space as a theme:
teacher training, hands-on projects, classroom resources, space
awareness
 Based on synergies with existing national educational stakeholders and
networks (formal & informal)
 Tailor to the needs of different national school systems and curricula
ESERO – European Space Education
Resource Office project

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Nordic ESERO (NO, SE,
FI, DK)
ESERO Portugal
ESERO Ireland
ESERO UK
ESERO Belgium
ESERO NL
ESERO Romania
ESERO Poland
ESERO Czech
Republic
ESERO network
www.esa.int/education/esero

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ESA teacher training
Annual ESA Summer Workshop for Teachers
 Where and when: ESA-ESTEC, the
Netherlands; summer
 Who: 40 secondary STEM teachers from ESA
Member and Cooperating States
 Objectives: use space to teach STEM
 Programme includes:
- practical sessions – showcase/test/pilot
new ESA resources
- inspirational talks and presentations
- networking opportunities

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ESA/GTTP Galileo Teacher Training Workshop 2014
 Where and when: Leiden, the Netherlands; 8-12
December 2014
 Who: 20 secondary STEM teachers
 Open for applications: 5 Sept – 13 Oct 2014
 Objectives: use space, in particular, astronomy and
space science for teaching for STEM subjects.
 Programme includes:
- practical sessions
- inspirational talks and presentations
- networking opportunities
ESA teacher training
www.esa.int/Education/Teachers_Corner/ESA_GTTP_Teacher_Training_Workshop_2014_apply_now

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 Practical supplement to STEM subjects
 Gain knowledge about a space-related topic
 Develop skills
- general (scientific enquiry, technical
design, data analysis and presentation,
teamwork)
- practical (soldering, building electronics,
software programming, testing)
 Timescale: not more than 6 months
 Low cost for teams to execute
 Easily duplicated
 Inspirational, Creative, Competitive
Hands-on projects & competitions for students

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Hands-on projects: Mission X
Mission X – Train like an astronaut
 Target: students 8 -12 years old
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, exercise, health, nutrition
 2014 competition:
 ~25000 students from 24
countries (17 ESA countries)
 20-22 Jun 2014 final event at
Eurospace centre, Belgium
 2015 competition:
 Call out in Autumn 2014

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• Target: secondary school students
• Learning objectives: scientific enquiry,
technology, science, basic engineering skills,
team work
• 2014 European CanSat Competition
• Launch campaign: 1-5 June 2014 at Andøya
• 14 student teams from 11 countries
• Winners of the Beginners Category:
1st:Norway, 2nd Romania, 3rd Ireland
• Winners of the Advanced Category:
1st:Romania, 2nd Greece, 3rd Belgium
• 2015 Competition will be launched in early
Autumn
www.esa.int/education/cansat
Hands-on projects: Cansats

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European Cansat competition 2014

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Hands-on projects: Zero Robotics - Spheres
Zero Robotics - Spheres
 Target: secondary school students
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, ICT, technology,
physics/maths, team work
 2014 competition:
- 500 students from 9 ESA
countries
- Jan 2014 final event at
Eurospace centre, Belgium
 2015 competition:
- Call out 21 July 2014
- Deadline for registration 26
Sept 2014

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Hands-on projects: pilots
ESTEC drop tower (micro-gravity)
 Target: secondary school students
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, physics
 2 pilot campaigns of 1 team each (UK,
Belgium): fluid dynamics
ESTEC Centrifuge (hyper-gravity)
 Target: secondary school students
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, physics
 1 pilot campaign of 1 team (NL): melt
ice cubes of 2 different materials

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ESA classroom resources:
www.esa.int/Education/Teachers_Corner

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ESA classroom resources
 Development of new resources series
 Teacher guides, student worksheets, experiment videos, multimedia,
picture packs, etc.
 Extensive revision of existing classroom resources on-going
- External audit exercise
- Content update

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ESA classroom resources

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New ESA classroom resources: primary
 Journey to space in 80 lessons (ESERO NL)
 8 Rosetta-related lessons extracted:
- The planets (lesson 1)
- Meteorites (lesson 24)
- Falling stars (lesson 33)
- Distances in the Solar System (lesson 61)
- Your weight on other planets? (lesson 68)
- History of the Solar System (lesson 70)
- How can you use solar energy? (lesson 72)
- A soft landing (lesson 80)
 Rosetta-comets context currently in preparation by
ESA

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ESA/Ecsite collaboration on Education
Rosetta - Time capsule:
 60 minute workshop
 Target: students 8 -12 years old
children (and families)
 Learning objectives: Solar System
 Short presentations, hands-on
activities and demonstrations
 Developed by NEMO for ESA
New ESA classroom resources: primary

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New ESA classroom resources: primary
Space case:
 Target: students 8 – 12 years old
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, technology, material
sciences
 Mission assignment: select the right
materials to build a spacecraft
 Different experiments
 Developed by Nottingham Trent
University for ESA
 Upgrade for secondary level planned
marble
materials
impact
experiment

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New ESA classroom resources: primary
Taste in space:
 Target: students 8 – 12 years old
 Learning objectives: scientific
enquiry, human senses (smell
and taste, concept of
weightlessness
 Related to Mission X 2015
 Delivery: Autumn-Winter 2014
(Futura mission of Samantha
Cristoforetti)

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30 new teacher packs:
 Target: Students 14-18 years old
 Learning objectives: science enquiry,
physics, chemistry, maths
 Content: teacher guides, student
worksheets and activities, video
demonstrations
 Developed by National Space
Academy for ESA
New ESA classroom resources: secondary

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New ESA classroom resources: secondary
ATV videos – Visionary science concepts
that made history:
 Target: students 14-18 years old
 Learning objectives: fundamental
science concepts, inspiration,
awareness of ESA & space
 5 videos
- Kepler
- Verne
- Einstein
- Amaldi
- Lemaitre
 Developed by ESA with National Space
Academy

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New ESA classroom resources: secondary
Down2Earth impact calculator:
 Web-based, mobile and tablet apps
 Target: lower secondary
 Learning objectives: science enquiry, physics, maths
 8 new accompanying lessons
- Calculating impacts
- Deflecting an impactor
- Impact Earth
- The impact that wiped out the dinosaurs
- Effect on Earth: The Vredefort crater
- Effect on Earth: The Russian meteorite
- Investigating crater size
- An asteroid in a geostationary orbit
• Developed by the Faulkes Telescope project with ESA

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New ESA classroom resources: secondary
Gaia:
 Teacher guides and student
activities
 Target: Students 14 – 18 years old
 Learning objectives: science
enquiry, astronomy, physics, maths
 Developed by UK National Space
Academy for ESA

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LEGO @ ESA
 LEGO-based robotic prototypes
 Demonstrating orbital robotics
 Demonstrating the use of the
Exomars rover
 Accompanying sets of 10 lessons per
activity
 Target: students 14-16 years old
 Learning objectives: science enquiry,
technology, ICT, design, physics, maths
(inter-curricular)
 Based on IB technology curriculum
 Application also in science centres
New ESA classroom resources: secondary

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ESA Kids
ESAkids: the most visited ESA web site

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Paxi: the ESAKids & Education alien mascot!
 Role to explain space to kids
 Calendar of presence to all
major ESA & space events
 Adult followers as well…
 www.esa.int/kids
ESA Kids

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 Micro-satellites: ESEO
– students develop instruments and platforms for:
• European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO)
 Pico-satellites (CubeSats): Fly Your satellite!
– students experience all stages of satellite development
– ESA offers different forms of support to the university student
teams (technical, managerial, procedural,…)
– New Fly Your Satellite! programme currently on-going
 Sub-orbital and stratospheric flight experiments
– students design, build and fly experiments on:
• REXUS sounding rocket platform
• BEXUS stratospheric balloon platform
 Gravity-related experiments
– students design, build and perform experiments at different
gravity levels in:
• ESA Large Diameter Centrifuge (1 to 20 g)
• ZARM Drop Tower (10E-6 g)
Projects for university students

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ESA Education links
• Education web portal: www.esa.int/education
• Education on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ESAEducation
• ESA education brochure:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/edu/ESA-EdSuccess.pdf
• ESA Kids web portal: www.esa.int/kids
• ESA Kids Facebook and twitter pages:
PaxiESAKids, #Paxi_ESAKids
• ESERO: www.esa.int/education/esero

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ESA UNCLASSIFIED – For Internal
THANK YOU
Rebecca Barnes, HE Space Operations for ESA
Education Officer
Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration
Rebecca.Barnes@esa.int