Using Space Materials to Support Education: Approaches by JAXA Space Education Center
- Paper number
IAC-07-E1.2.03
- Author
Ms. Takemi Chiku, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Eijiro Hirohama, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The proposed paper describes the goals and principles pursued and approaches taken by the Space Education Center of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to assist young people in their development as human beings, to realize the importance of life and their potential to achieve higher goals. In carrying out space education activities, the Center places importance on responding to and working on the minds of children. The Center uses space materials to stimulate the curiosity embedded in children’s mind about the nature, universe and life and to guide them to appreciate life and the link between human beings and the rest of the world, on the Earth and beyond. To reach out to a large number of children, the Center works closely with school teachers. The Center provides customized support to the teachers with specific requests for assistance to carry out classroom activities to address space-related topics. For other teachers whose time is limited, the Center produces education materials with space elements that could be used in the classrooms to facilitate teaching subjects contained in the existing curricula. Recognizing the link between space and many areas of human activities, the Center endeavours to establish partnerships with not only those entities responsible for science, technology, and engineering, but also with those engaged in studies on humanities, including languages, arts and music, as well as philosophy. The Center is gradually expanding the international collaborations. At the global level, the Center pursues collaborations within the framework of the International Space Education Board and also with UNESCO and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. At the regional level, the Center focuses on cooperation through the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, particularly through its Space Education and Awareness Working Group. To reach out to other regions, the Center focuses on working with those entities serving as the focal points for regional space cooperation, such as the Space Conference of the Americas for Latin America and the Caribbean, with the aim of encouraging inter-regional cooperation. Through space education, the Center aims to create synergies of efforts among the existing mechanisms for cooperation and to ensure that the regional efforts that the Center promotes would contribute to global efforts to enhance space education. The recent efforts of the Center to promote CanSat activities provide a good example of creating such synergies and supporting the objectives set by multiple mechanisms for cooperation in space education.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E1.2.03.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.