Antoine Huebert presentation for the eTwinning STEM featured Group webinar on Empowering your STEM Lessons with Astronomy

1. The ESA Education Programme
ESERO meeting, 4 July2016
eTwinning Live
06 December 2016
Antoine HUBERT, ESA Education Office

2. Slide 2
ESA = European Space Agency
It designs, coordinates, implements the space
programme for Europe
What is ESA?

3. Slide 3
22 Member States
ESA has 22 Member States:
20 states of the EU (AT, BE, CZ,
DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, IT, GR,
HU, IE, LU, NL, PT, PL, RO, SE,
UK) plus Norway and
Switzerland.
Cooperation Agreements with:
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Discussions are ongoing with
Croatia.
Cooperation Agreement with
Canada

4. Slide 4
Space, according to ESA
ESA is one of the few space
agencies in the world to
combine responsibility in
nearly all areas of space
activity.
space science
telecommunications
human spaceflight exploration
earth observation launchers navigation
operations technology

5. Slide 5
Education at ESA: a mandatory activity
“To provide for and promote, for exclusively
peaceful purposes, cooperation among
European states in space research and
technology and their space applications and
ensure the execution of fundamental
activities from which education.”
(Art. II, ESA Convention)

6. Slide 6
ESA’s strenghts in education
• Space is a modern myth – a unique motivational context for the study of
STEM subjects  innovative learning environment
• ESA is a source of unique and multidisciplinary scientific knowledge – it
can play a unique role to both transmit this knowledge and the way it is
acquired
• ESA provides access to space data,
facilities, experts
• ESA has an international collaborative
dimension by definition, where
scientific knowledge is produced by
creativity, skills, motivation, partnership
and dialogue beyond frontiers

7. Slide 7
There is NO STEM curricular subject that:
•is not covered by a space discipline
•cannot be linked to a space example
•cannot be linked to an ESA mission
•cannot be linked to a space career
ESA’s strenghts in education

8. Slide 8
ESA education: a diversified approach
Space is the subject
ESA ACADEMY
Hands-on space projects
•Satellite projects
•Scientific instrumentation and
experimentation
•Technology demonstration
experiments
+
Training & Learning programme
•Courses, lectures and workshops
by ESA & space experts
•Participation to conferences
School pupils & teachers Universities
Space is the context
Formal education, right into the
schools, with:
o teacher training
o classroom activities to
support the curriculum in an
innovative way
o European challenges
learning to think, learning to
do, learning to collaborate
Informal education

9. PRIMARY & SECONDARY
EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

10. Slide 10
European Space Education Resource Office
ESA’s main project in support of school education
ESERO

11. Slide 11
Nordic ESERO
(NO, SE, FI, DK)
ESERO
Portugal
ESERO Ireland
ESERO UK
ESERO Belgium
ESERO NL
ESERO
Romania
Operational
ESERO Poland
Preparation on-
going!
ESERO
Czech
Republic
ESERO Austria,
ESERO Germany
ESERO Greece
ESERO Italy
Interest received
ESERO Spain
ESERO France
ESERO Hungary
ESERO Luxemburg
ESERO Switzerland
ESERO – a growing network

12. Slide 12
The number of teachers and students who have benefitted from ESERO activities has steadily grown and the
overall impact of the activities has reached a level which far exceeds that which ESA could have achieved
alone:
More than 5000 teachers trained and 150 000 pupils reached in 2015
The ESERO impact

13. Slide 13
ESA Teacher training
ESA Summer Teacher Workshop
•Where/When: ESTEC, Summer (early July)
•Who: primary and secondary teachers
Objectives: learn how to use space to teach
STEM, learn about ESA, space and ESA/ESERO’s
education offer
ESTEC Open Day – ESA Teacher conference
•Where/When: ESTEC, early Oct
•Who: primary and secondary teachers

14. Slide 14
e-robotics lab
•Where/When: Redu, every school year Who:
secondary/primary STEM teachers Objectives:
learn how to use space robotics to teach STEM
• practical workshops – showcase of new
ESA resources
• networking opportunity
• kick-off of pilot/test phase for new
resources
ESA Teacher training

15. Slide 15
ESA/SpaceAwe/GTTP Space Education Inter. Workshop
•Where/When: NL, Autumn (18-22 Oct 2016)
•Who: primary and secondary STEM teachers
•Objectives: get inspired by space and astronomy, use space
data in the classroom for STEM teaching
ESA-GTTP Galileo Teacher Training WorkshopESA Teacher training

16. Slide 16
• Target: secondary school students
• Learning objectives: scientific enquiry,
technology, science, basic engineering skills, team
work
• 2016 European CanSat Competition
• Launch campaign: 22-25 June 2016 in Torres
Vedras (Portugal)
• 14 students teams
 First prize: Portugal
 Second prize: Germany, girls only 
 Third prize: Ireland
• 2017 European CanSat Competition
• Guidelines and call for proposal published
soon
ESA competitions - Cansats

17. Slide 17
ESA competitions - Cansats

18. Slide 18
Coming upCanSat 2016

19. Slide 19
ESA competitions - Zero Robotics
Zero Robotics - Spheres
In collaboration with NASA and MIT (US)
Challenge: creating computer codes to
manoeuvre the Spheres on the ISS
Target: secondary school students
Learning objectives: scientific enquiry, ICT,
technology, physics/maths, team work
2016-2017 competition:
- Final selection in December 2016

20. Slide 20
ESA competitions - Mission X
Collaboration with NASA
Challenge: help AstroCharlie get to the Moon by
keeping fit and learning about good nutrition
Target: primary school children
Learning objectives: scientific enquiry, exercise,
health, nutrition
• 2015 competition:
- campaign Winter-Spring

21. Slide 21
European pilot in 2016-2017: based on UK, Tim
Peake mission, 2015-2016
Concept: Conceive a science investigation and write
a code to run it
Target: under 16 y/o
Learning objectives: working scientifically, coding,
physics
Tool: Astro-Pi on the ISS – a small computer with a
set of sensors (movement, humidity, temperature,
pressure), an IR camera, a visible camera
1 Challenge with two missions
Classroom resources (EN, FR, IT, PT, PL) &
teacher training planned (ESERO (PT, PL and UK)
+ France + Italy)
Webinar(s) (EN) planned in December – January
NEW: First European Astro-pi
challenge 2016-2017

22. Slide 22
Astro Pi - Kit

23. Slide 23
Phase 1
•4 Oct – 13 Nov 2016: registration and submission of mission plan by school
teams
•25 Nov 2016: announcement of selected teams, publication of classroom
activities and distribution of kits
Phase 2
•25 Nov 2016 – 28 Feb 2017: discover Astro-pi and submit your code
•15 Mar 2017: announcement of winning codes (at least 1 per country)
•Mar – May 2017: codes run on ISS (control from ground)
•15 May: publication of results; Thomas Pesquet comments from orbit
(registered video message)
Astro-pi competition timeline

24. Slide 24
• Primary + secondary levels, project-type activity
• Progressive learning:
o Understanding the science behind Earth
phenomena (ice melting, change of state, green-
house effect, the water cycle…) 
o Select a theme: Climate, Land & cities, Forests,
Seas and Oceans, Rivers & lakes, Atmosphere…..

o Make and present a group project: identify a
problem/environmental issue and propose a
solution; use of EO data/products; citizen
science approach?
NEW: First Earth Detectives
European school challenge 2017-2018

25. Slide 25
Tim Peake – Principia mission (with UKSA) educational
activities well advanced
Thomas Pesquet – Proxima mission (with CNES) educational
activities being prepared/designed:
o CERES, CrISStal, CatalISS school experiments in orbit
o Astro Pi  teacher training in France
Paolo Nespoli – Vita mission (ASI mission)
o LISS e-book, YiSS biology experiment
o Astro Pi  teacher training in Italy in Autumn 2016
o 1 international IFC with selected ESEROs (teachers and
students)
Alexander Gerst mission (with DLR)
oPreparation about to start
Astronaut educational campaigns

26. Slide 26
Paxi: the ESAKids & Education alien mascot!
• Born to explain space to kids
• Calendar of presence to all
major ESA & space events
• Becoming the ESA mascot!!!
• Adult followers as well…
Juniors: learn with fun

27. Slide 27
ESAkids: the most visited ESA web site
Juniors: learn with fun

28. Slide 28
On the ISS
On the ISS

29. Slide 29
Rosetta, Philae landingAt Rosetta comet landing

30. Slide 30
ESA Education links
• Contact: teachers@esa.int
• Education web portal: www.esa.int/education
• ESERO: www.esa.int/esero
• Education on facebook: facebook.com/ESAEducation
• Education on twitter: @ESA_Education
• Education on flickr: ESA_events
• ESAKids web portal: www.esa.int/kids
• ESAkids facebook and twitter pages:
PaxiESAKids, #Paxi_ESAKids

31. Slide 31
Thank you
www.esa.int/education