Space … it’s big isn’t it
From the Beeb
space is about to become a lot more central to the education of school children in Northern Ireland.
Until now, space science has mainly been taught as an off-curriculum fringe activity, often by teachers running after-school astronomy clubs.
But now, in what’s thought to be a global first, astronomy and space science are being written into the school curriculum here.
Pupils are already accessing the Faulkes Telescopes, sited in Hawaii and Australia, via their school computers.
“If you go to Hawaii, it’s 11 hours behind us and if you go to Australia it’s nine hours ahead of us, so it’s always night-time when it’s daytime here.
“The maths teacher would be looking at the shapes and patterns in the night sky, the angles and dimensions of these shapes.
“The RE teacher would be looking at how different faiths use astral bodies to calculate the dates of religious festivals.
“Drama and English teachers could be looking at the Greek myths which sprang up around planets like Venus and Mars or constellations like Orion the Hunter.
“Science teachers could focus on the life cycle of a star from birth to extinction.”
“The girls push in the co-ordinates and they can see the telescope slewing round and there’s always a gasp when this happens.
“They’re learning transferable skills - how to use a high-quality instrument, how to use IT skills and manipulate data.
“They’re presenting the results at conferences, making graphs and publishing images.”
Last year, two 14-year-olds who used the telescope to image an asteroid had their findings published in the Bulletin of the Minor Planets Centre, published by Harvard University.
“What we’re doing here is using astronomy as the hook to encourage children to take up the STEM activities - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“They’re perceived as difficult, so we’re using space science as the tool for inspiration, because this is real science and real technology and there are careers in Europe for pupils who take them up.”
Wow.