Space is a theme with a strong appeal to young students. Though the common view of the matter is centered on technical and scientific issues, it possesses a huge potential to approach many different disciplines, from the sciences to math, but also touching areas such as the arts, history and philosophy.
In this course, teachers will be led through these subjects in a series of discussions and interactive lectures that will also focus on a state-of-the-art overview of Solar System exploration. They will be involved in classroom-enabled experiments, so they can taste the full interdisciplinarity of space exploration.
Human spaceflight will be a crucial theme; this will include future human Mars missions – a subject in which the Austrian Space Forum possesses a significant expertise. As a highlight, the participants will be introduced to “Aouda.X”, currently Europe’s only Mars exploration spacesuit simulator: Teachers will learn how it is built and operated, and face the kind of challenges that astronauts will encounter when exploring Mars. This will also include practical exercises using a small Mars mock-up rover.
The international flavor of the event also aims to offer teachers the opportunity to establish links with colleagues from schools in other countries. This course -aligned with the World Space Week in October each year – enables teachers to utilize space exploration as a didactic vehicle to lead their students in learning.
The course fee for Erasmus+ applicants is 70€/day. The course fee covers:
– All materials needed for the course
– Tuition fee for lectures, seminars and workshops
Date: 4-10 October 2018
Organisers: Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) / NUCLIO
Venue: Innsbruck, Austria