Sign up for the Spring 2022 ESA Teach with Space online teacher trainings
In brief
ESA is calling primary and secondary teachers to join our new online teacher training workshops. The training sessions will be exploring some of the ESA school projects and how space technology, AI and the study of our home planet from above can support the curriculum in an inspiring and innovative way.
In-depth
Registrations are now open for all trainings up to the end of this school year! Interested teachers from ESA Member States, Canada, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Malta are invited to apply.
See below the full list of the newly available ESA Teach with Space online teacher training sessions.
Simulate your satellite with Tinkercad Circuits
9 February 2022, 16:30 – 18:30 CET
Level: Secondary school teachers
Pre-requisites: No previous experience is required
This training focusses on classroom activities that make use of a learning by tinkering approach in order to develop the pupils’ critical thinking skills and subject knowledge in electronics and programming.
Programmable electronic devices such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi are used as the main control unit in our CanSat and Astro Pi school projects. Being familiar with the main functions and commands of these devices is a great step on starting up these projects.
During this course you will be introduced to the basic structure and functions of Arduino, using the “Circuits” tool of Autodesk Tinkercad. You will build basic electronic circuits using LEDs, resistors, temperature sensors and motors. You will program the Arduino platform to perform experiments included in the CanSat primary mission, along with some more advanced circuits that will introduce you to more advanced concepts.
Tinkercad Circuits provides a full simulation platform for Arduino, so no hardware is necessary to attend the course.
Closing of applications: 04 February 2022, 12:00 CET (midday). Apply here.
Astro Pi for beginners
23 February 2022, 16:30-18:30 CET
Level: Primary and Secondary school teachers (beginner level)
Pre-requisites: No previous coding experience required
This training focusses on classroom activities that make use of a learning by tinkering approach in order to develop the pupils’ critical thinking skills and subject knowledge in programming and science experimentation.
Astro Pi computers are small computer devices that are capable of great things. ESA is collaborating with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to run an educational project that makes use of two Astro Pi computers located on the ISS by means of coding and scientific experimentation. During this session, you will be introduced to the Astro Pi software and hardware, including its set of sensors. You will set up and learn to program an Astro Pi in the language that they communicate – Python. These special computers can for instance be used to communicate with astronauts on board the ISS through the manipulation of text and images on an LED screen, as well as to run science experiments.
Closing of applications: 18 February 2022, 12:00 CET (midday). Apply here.
Teach with Earth from space: climate in the classroom
9 March 2022, 16:30 – 18:30 CET
Level: Primary school teachers
Pre-requisites: No pre-requisites
Earth’s weather and climate are complex systems that scientists study using data from satellites and ground-based measurements. In this training, aimed for primary school teachers, we will investigate the differences between weather and climate and explore some of the most important indicators scientists use to study climate change from space. We will explore how these indicators can be used to support your science lessons using a learning approach which focusses on real-world problems to promote the development of STEM competences and global citizenship skills. We will provide examples of hands-on activities and projects that can be developed in the classroom, such as the Climate Detectives project. Join this training and engage your students to become Climate Detectives!
Closing of applications: 04 March 2022, 12:00 CET (midday). Apply here.
Code your mission to Mars: from simulation to reality
For this training, we offer two opportunities:
23 March 2022, 16:30 – 18:30 CET
4 May 2022, 16:30 – 18:30 CEST
Level: Primary and secondary school teachers
Pre-requisites: No previous experience on programming is required
This training focusses on classroom activities that use the context of a rover mission to Mars. By using challenges and a game-based learning approach, the activities aim at developing pupils’ problem solving and critical thinking skills, and at reinforcing their subject knowledge in science and programming.
In 2022 the first European rover will be launched for its journey to explore the surface of planet Mars and search for traces of past life. In this training, you will be introduced to the secrets of a mission to the Red Planet. How do scientists operate a planetary exploration vehicle on planet Mars? What are the challenges that programmers must overcome for a successful mission?
You will use satellite images of the Martian surface to analyse its characteristics and select a landing site for your rover. Then, you will program a number of missions, using the Open Roberta Lab online simulation tool. The tool utilises a block-based programming language and supports connectivity to a wide variety of educational robotic kits.
Mars is more than 50 million km away from us, which means that a communication signal will need more than 2,5 minutes to reach its destination! You will experience a similar situation, as your code will be uploaded on an educational robot in our e-technology lab, in the ESA/ESEC facilities, to actually drive on the Martian Terrain simulation table.
Closing of applications:
Teach with Earth from space: do it yourself Earth Observation
6 April 2022, 16:30 – 18:30 CEST
Level: Secondary school teachers
Pre-requisites: the training assumes no previous knowledge of Earth Observation topics or tools.
In this training, aimed to secondary school teachers, we will explore the role of Earth Observation from space in monitoring our planet and how these topics can be integrated in your science and geography lessons. The objective is for your students to develop STEM skills and competences through the real practice of science; such skills include: scientific methodology, as well as data collection, visualisation and analysis. We will explore the EO Browser, an online tool that provides easy and free access to satellite images from different Earth Observation satellites directly from your classroom. We will explore its basic functions and measure geographical features such as geometry and size, changes in the landscape, mathematical applications, and vegetation indices using an interdisciplinary approach.We will provide examples of hands-on activities and projects that can be developed in the classroom, such as the Climate Detectives project. Join this training and engage your students to increase their STEM skills by making use of real satellite data!
Closing of applications: 01 April 2022, 12:00 CEST (midday). Apply here.
ESA Online Teacher Conference – pre-registration
5 to 7 July 2022
Level: Primary and secondary school teachers
Also, save the date and pre-register for the ESA Online Teacher Conference, taking place this July, at the end of the school year. After the amazing success of the first edition, with approximately 600 participants joining the event, we are happy to confirm the second edition. Once again, we will offer you a very rich programme: you will get inspired by space experts, go through educational activities that make use of space science and technology as a context and powerful enabler for your teaching, meet your national ESEROs, and network with your peers. This will be also an opportunity for you to learn more about planetary exploration, the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, and investigate how to monitor Earth from above, among other amazing activities.
ESA is looking forward to welcoming you in this exciting series of online trainings! If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at teachers@esa.int
You can find out more here.