Press Release

Sign up now for new ESA Space Station Education Kit

By SpaceRef Editor

August 2, 2003

Filed under Education, Europe, European Space Agency, ISS

Starting in the autumn ESA will distribute the new International Space Station
Education Kit for pupils aged 12-15. Teachers, you can sign up now for a free
copy and be in with the chance of hosting a launch event for the kit at your school!

Developed with input from teachers, piloted in early 2003 and improved as a
result of feedback, the new ISS Education Kit is currently in production. 40,000
copies will be printed in no less than 11 languages and distributed to
interested teachers in all 15 ESA Member States[*] later this year. The kit is
aimed at teachers of secondary school pupils aged 12-15 years old (International
Standard Classification for Education – level 2).

Launch event at your school

Kits will be rolled out at launch events across Europe during the latter part of
this year. ESA’s astronauts will play a leading role in promoting the kits,
starting with Pedro Duque’s tour of Spain after his Soyuz flight to ISS in October.

If you would like your school to be considered for a launch event — with the
possibility of having an astronaut present — sign up for a kit and tell us why
you would like us to choose your school.

Contents of the kit

Five chapters explain various aspects of ISS, including what it is, how it is
being built, what it is like to live and work on board, and what future voyages
will be like. There are also related inter-disciplinary exercises, a teacher’s
guide, a glossary, colour overhead transparencies, and a CD.

Modules can be taught in the classroom, used to facilitate group exercises,
given as homework, or copied and distributed to each pupil.

To get your copy

If you are a teacher at a school in one of the 15 ESA Member States[*], and you
teach pupils aged 12-15, you can receive a copy of the kit. Please complete the
ISS Education Kit request form and email it as an attachment back to
educationkit@esa.int. Don’t forget to tell us if you would like your school to
be considered for a launch event!

[*] ESA Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
and the United Kingdom.