Teaching with Space and Astronomy in your Classroom
SpaceAwareness
Welcome to the MOOC Teaching with Space and Astronomy in Your Classroom
On this page
The Teaching with Space and Astronomy in your Classroom course will train and empower you to successfully teach space-related topics. It aims to educate teachers on how to introduce and attract more and more young people to careers in space. The methods through which you will be able to achieve this objective will be inquiry-based science education teaching practices, the effective use of ICT tools, as well as managing diversity and obtaining a gender balance in the classroom.
The course therefore aims to introduce you to the concept of inquiry-based science education and the effective use of ICT tools in the science classroom. Furthermore, the course will address questions of diversity related to the space sciences and inquiry-based science education, and provide guidance and resources for introducing students to a range of space careers.
Join us already in the Teaching with Space and Astronomy in your Classroom Facebook group and share your ideas about the topic on Twitter using #spacemooc.
Learning objectives
- Using the inquiry-based science education teaching methodology
- Using ICT tools in the science classroom
- Developing teaching strategies in order to manage diverse classrooms and promote gender balance
- Communicating space-related careers to students and facilitating them in developing the key skills involved
Prerequisites
The course is targeted at primary and secondary school teachers from Europe and beyond. However, representatives of organizations in the space/astronomy field who engage with children with the purpose of career counselling/orientation/exposure (e.g. museums, observatories, etc.) can equally benefit from the course materials and activities.
Modules
- Module 1: Why Space & Space Careers?
- Module 2: Working with Inquiry in the Science Classroom
- Module 3: Use of ICT Tools in the Science Classroom
- Module 4: How to Manage Diversity and Gender Balance in the Classroom
- Module 5: How to Introduce Space Careers to Your Students
Certification
You will receive digital module badges for every completed module of the course as well as a course badge and a course certificate upon completion of the full course.
Note to teachers from Portugal: You can get your successful participation in a European Schoolnet Academy course formally recognised as valid continuous professional development, and thereby acquire the relevant number of training hours, by sending your certificate to the Conselho Científico e Pedagógico de Formação Contínua (CCPFC) at Rua do Forno, nº 30, 1º andar - apartado 2168, 4700 - 429 Braga, Portugal. For more information, please contact the CCPFC.
Course Staff
Disclaimer & Copyright
Space Awareness is an international project targeting children and teenagers all over Europe, providing them with information on space-related subjects. The project strives to educate children and young adults on the numerous career opportunities offered by the space industry and show them that space science can be fun and engaging. Space Awareness offers free high-quality resources for educators and children easily adaptable to different disciplines and countries.
The Teaching with Space and Astronomy in Your Classroom course is produced by the Space Awareness project team. Four of the project's partner organisations built one course module each. The partners directly involved in producing this MOOC are:
- Module 1: University of Leiden
- Module 2: Ellinogermaniki Agogi
- Module 3: European Schoolnet and University of Leiden
- Module 4: Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia
- Module 5: European Schoolnet
This course was developed under the Space Awareness project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme under grant agreement no. 638653.
All content on this course unless specified otherwise is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License