SCHOOL-WIDE SPACE ADVOCACY

摘要

The effect of Space on our daily lives cannot be understated. In Israel, Space is integrated into the formal Science curriculum of elementary, junior, and high school teaching. However, the assimilation of Space as a subject-matter is limited to the willingness of the teacher to delve into the material. Therefore, it is possible that students will be exposed to Space and Space-related education to a highly limited number of hours per year. This article will review a rigorous, research-based, two-year elementary school-wide structure-program which prescribed a school teaching staff to include Space in their various subject-matter classes, such as Math and Geometry, Literature, Arts, PE, Language, and so on. The program encompassed some 500 elementary school students from 1st to 6th grade (ages 6 to 12), 70 formal teachers, 7 informal teachers, 5 facilitators, and 7 university Education students. The program included in-class and out-of-class activities, digital learning, research and documentation of astronomical phenomena, inter-classrooms cooperation during space-engineering activities, and more. Although marks were given by a statement rather than a figure, Space was also taught as a core subject matter. In-staff barriers encountered will be identified, failed and successful projects will be described, first-year survey results will be analyzed, and lessons learned will be explored.