PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY EXERCISES BASED ON EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY DATA: A NEW EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

摘要

A shortage of engineers and scientists is forecast, in scientific fields in general and in the space sector in particular. Students - girls especially - perceive science as a difficult option and society sees science as removed from everyday life. The European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) are implementing strategies to promote science education in Europe. Space is actually a very attractive proposition for students. However, at school, they generally see space-related subjects such as physics and chemistry as difficult and somewhat abstract, having little connection with the world at large. In this paper, we present a recently-published brochure: Lift-off: European Space Agency physics and chemistry exercises based on real space data for secondary schools. This educational resource has been produced having regard to what is actually taught in the classroom by extracting and adapting space data to provide meaningful exercises for young students. With this example of an educational resource, we show how it is possible to interest youngsters in real space issues. The feedback received even before promotion of the brochure has been very positive and points the way ahead for promoting science in terms of securing more investment in science generally and space in particular.