An ESERO office officially opens in Czech Republic

The official launch event took place on 1 June 2015 at the Rectorial building of the Charles University in Prague, with the participation of Karel Dobeš, Head of Delegation of the Czech Republic to ESA Council, and Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Head of ESA Relations with Member States Department. The welcome speech was given by the rector of Charles University, Tomáš Zima.

Space is about the generation and dissemination of advanced scientific knowledge, and the development of state-of-the-art systems and services, such as telecommunications, now an important part of our everyday life. ESA’s scientific observation of the Earth, the other planets and the wider Universe, as well as all the technological steps needed to achieve it, contribute to the accumulation of this knowledge, and the advancement of this technology.

From a teacher’s point of view, space has it all. It can be used as an incredibly fertile context to trigger the students’ natural interest and curiosity in the world around us, to help engage them in learning sciences, to stimulate the acquisition of scientific methodology, and to enable the development of the critical thinking they need to master their own future.

ESERO Czech Republic will focus on inspiring and enabling teachers to inspire pupils. The national ESERO office will provide training to teachers so that they can use space in the classroom and make their science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) lessons more inspiring and effective. Teachers will also be offered a great variety of information and classroom material, as well as training courses and workshops for their continuous professional development. Activities will take advantage of the wealth of space-related resources already made available by ESA.

The office will also contribute to the coordination and dissemination of hands-on activities, such as ESA’s CanSats and robotics initiatives, that will engage students and guide them through an active learning process by ‘doing’, and inform teachers about the ESA Education Programme and the Czech institutions active in STEM education.

ESERO Czech Republic will also enable pupils to meet with space experts working at the Czech space industry and academia as role models, helping to bridge the gap between theoretical science in the classroom and real space practices and professions. This will in turn help inspire students to choose scientific and technical careers. The office will also raise awareness of the importance of space for modern society, of the European and national space programmes. “ESERO is an exemplary education project. Through ESERO, ESA collaborates with national education players to fulfil one of its mandates, which is to use the potential of space to increase the scientific literacy of students in sciences and technology, and to encourage them to take up STEM-related studies and careers. The success of the ESERO project is increasing year after year, and we are really pleased to now have a new ESERO office in Czech Republic,” said Kai-Uwe Schrogl, ESA Head of the Relations with Member States Department. 

“Through these national partnerships, ESERO is able to respond to the specific needs of each country in the field of primary and secondary education,” continued Kai-Uwe Schrogl. “This is the key to its success”. 

The establishment of an ESERO in Czech Republic is mentioned in the National Space Plan (NSP) of 2014-2019, which was approved by the government of the Czech Republic on 27 October 2014. The main objective of the NSP 2014 is to increase the international competitiveness and the technological and innovative level of the Czech Republic.“It is clear that investing in the next generation of scientists and engineers and making the younger generation aware about the national and international space activities is very important,”  said Karel Dobeš, Head of Delegation of the Czech  Republic to ESA Council. “This is why we support activities of the ESERO project, hoping to get students excited about science and technology and, possibly, attract them to future careers in these fields, bearing in mind that the competitive national space sector could not exist without sufficient number of young and highly motivated technically oriented graduates and young professionals,” continued Karel Dobeš.

The Czech Republic already has a strong tradition of space exploration. Vladimir Remek of Czechoslovakia became the first European astronaut when he went into space in 1978.

What’s ESERO?

ESERO is ESA’s largest educational project that supports the formal education of sciences (STEM) in European primary and secondary schools. By offering educational activities specifically tailored to the national curricula and priorities of ESA Member States, the ESERO offices play an important role in supporting science and technology education, and inspire the next generation to pursue STEM-related studies and careers, particularly in the space domain.

In addition to ESERO Czech Republic, ESERO is present in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland), Poland, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom.