Report of JAXASpace Education Center On Its Activities in 2010-2011

Report of JAXASpace Education Center On Its Activities in 2010-2011

Report ofJAXA Space Education Center

On Its A

ctivities in 2010-2011

REPO

RT OF JA

XA

SPAC

E EDU

CATIO

N C

ENTER

ON

ITS AC

TIVITIES IN

2010 - 2011(Inform

ation as of February 2011)

TAB

LE OF C

ON

TENTS

I.

INTRODUCTION ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥05

II. BASIC FA

CTS ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥06

A. Establishm

ent of the Center ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥06

B. Goals and principles ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥06

C. O

rganizational structure and major activities

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥09

D. Collaborations for space education

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥10

III. SUPPO

RT FOR FORMAL ED

UCATION ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥12

A. Objectives and strategies

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥12

B. A

chievements

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥15

C. Establishing strategic footholds ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥20

IV. SUPPO

RT FOR INFORMAL ED

UCATION ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥22

A. Objectives and strategies

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥22

B. Program

me structure ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥23

C. A

chievements

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥28

V. SUPPO

RT FOR EDUCATION AT HOME ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥30

A. Background and strategies ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥30

B. A

chievements

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥30

VI. INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥32

A. Objectives and strategies

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥32

B. Focusing on children in A

sia : Asia-Pacific Regional Space A

gency Forum ‥33

C. Collaborations w

ith advanced space-faring nations: International Space Education Board

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥36

D. Pursuing cooperation w

ith developing countries outside Asia ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥38

E. O

ther collaborations : providing education opportunities outside Asia for

graduate students ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥41

VII. DISSEM

INATION OF IN

FORMATION AND PUBLICA

TIONS ‥

42 A. Objectives and strategies

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥42

B. A

chievements

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥43

VIII. STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND ESTABLISHM

ENT OF FOOTHOLDS ‥44

IX. CONCLU

DING REMARKS ‥

‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥46

5

As the Space Education C

enter of Japan Aerospace Exploration

Agency (JA

XA

) entered its sixth year of operation following its

establishment in M

ay 2005, it continued to enhance its activities both in term

s of quantity and quality to ignite children’s curiosity tow

ard the nature, life and the universe and to inspire them to

achieve higher goals. Recognizing “space” as the unique source of

interest, imagination and inspiration, the C

enter has continued to dem

onstrate the effective use of space subjects, materials and

resources at schools, in local comm

unities and at home to stim

ulate children’s interest in not only science and technology but also vari-ous hum

an conducts and their surrounding environment.

A grow

ing number of individuals, groups and organizations w

ithin and outside Japan are now

sharing the Center’s goals and principles

in carrying out space education activities, resulting in the increased partnerships and strategic alliances w

ith various entities to reach out to m

ore young people. The time betw

een the year 2010 and the year 2011 could be m

arked as the period of strategic expansion of space education efforts based on the system

atic support provided by the C

enter to all stakeholders.

This report reflects the major developm

ents in the activities of the Space Education C

enter and its achievements in 2010 and 2011 and

indicates directions to be pursued in the coming year.

I. INT

RO

DU

CT

ION

6

The Space Education Center w

as established on 1 May 2005 by an

executive decision by the President of the Japan Aerospace

Exploration Agency (JA

XA

). The Center form

ally opened on 19 M

ay 2005 at JAX

A Sagam

ihara Cam

pus.

JAX

A, as w

ell as its predecessors before its establishment in

October 2003

1, had carried out educational activities as part of the public relations and outreach activities. Those activities focused on increasing public aw

areness and understanding of the work of JA

XA

and highlighting societal benefits of space activities, w

ith the aim to

gain public support for the activities of JAX

A.

The recognition of the fundamental difference betw

een public out-reach and education resulted in the establishm

ent of a separate group dedicated to space education activities. O

riginally located within the

Public Affairs D

epartment, the space education group carried out

activities using attractive space materials to stim

ulate young peo-ple’s interest in science and other subjects relevant to their daily lives and ultim

ately to have positive impact on their grow

ing-up process. T

his group served as the predecessor to the Space Education C

enter and, to some extent, laid the foundation for the

work of the C

enter.

1 JAX

A w

as established by merging the follow

ing three separate space-related entities: National Space D

evelopment A

gency (NA

SDA

), Institute of Space and A

stronautical Science (ISAS) and N

ational Aeronautics Laboratory (N

AL).

Space subjects, resources and materials inherently have unique

power to attract young people’s attention and to encourage them

to take on challenges and aim

for higher goals. While the Space

Education Center considers it im

portant to attract young people to pursue career options in space-related areas, so as to expand the pool of future space scientists and engineers, the key m

ission of the C

enter is to effectively use space materials to have positive im

pact on the m

inds of young people in their development process, helping

them to expand their potential and to becom

e socially responsible individuals.

JAX

A Sagam

ihara campus

Opening of the S

pace Education

Center:Prof. Y. M

atogawa, First D

irector of the C

enter (left), and JAX

A President K

. Tachikaw

a (right)

II. BA

SIC FA

CT

S

A. E

stablishment of the C

enter

B. G

oals and principles

7

There are a few principles that the Space Education C

enter follows

in its activities.

The Center considers it im

portant that the young people understand the thinking process behind w

hat they acquire as knowledge. Taking

advantage of their simple curiosity tow

ard the nature, life and envi-ronm

ent that surrounds them, the C

enter offers them w

ith opportuni-ties to experience the joy of discovering som

ething new and previ-

ously unknown to them

and solving mysteries by them

selves. In this process, the C

enter also aims to increase young people’s apprecia-

tion of science and technology and to enhance their capacity for log-ical thinking.

“Preciousness of life” continues to be the most im

portant message to

be conveyed to young people through all activities of the Center.

The abundance of goods and services that meet various needs of

people in Japan might indicate the richness of the society. H

owever,

that may not necessarily be true if one pays close attention to the

minds of people, especially those of young people. A

n alarming

number of young people in Japan have been observed to have lim

it-ed m

otivation to do anything, to be pessimistic about their ow

n future and even to treat people’s lives lightly, including their ow

n lives, and get involved in serious crim

es. The people involved in the establishm

ent of the Space Education Center had becom

e deeply concerned about those young people, and they w

anted to do some-

thing about it.

Space subjects and materials w

ere found to offer an excellent tool to inspire and m

otivate young people, to start gaining self-confidence and aim

ing for higher goals in their lives. It was observed that after

learning that there had been a lengthy chain of relays of one life to another before a certain life w

as born and that the lives on the Earth today had com

e a long way from

pieces of galaxies and starts, many

of the young people started to think deeply about the origin and evo-lution of lives and gained appreciation of the im

portance of life.

8

By letting young people learn about the origin and evolution of the

universe and life and showing how

long we have been searching for

Earth-like planets without success, the C

enter aims to increase their

appreciation of all forms of lives on the Earth.

The spirit of “Never G

ive Up” is another im

portant message alw

ays em

phasized in the activities of the Center, as this spirit is considered

essential for anybody who w

ants to achieve something significant in

this challenging world. The history of space exploration is full of

examples that show

how im

portant this is.

Through its activities, the Center also guides young people to under-

stand how im

portant and how rew

arding it is to be part of the society to build a better future together. N

o individual can carry out space activities by them

selves, but together, a large number of people w

ith various backgrounds can even build global system

s that could bene-fit large populations around the w

orld. The Center aim

s to increase young people’s appreciation of the pow

er of collective efforts tow

ard comm

on goals.

With the above goals and principles, the C

enter carries out its activi-ties to help young people becom

e full of curiosity, adventurous spirit and craftsm

anship, always aim

ing for the best in whatever they do.

9

The Space Education Center consists of the Space Education O

ffice, w

hich serves as the implem

enting body of the Center, and a group of

experts who adm

inistratively belong to other offices and depart-m

ents but have been appointed as technical advisers to assist in the planning and execution of the C

enter’s activities. As of February

2011, the Space Education Office consists of 17 staff m

embers,

including 7 regular staff and 10 invited or contracted staff.

The Center carries out the follow

ing four major activities:

i) form

al education support, to assist teachers and schools in car-rying out classroom

activities using space materials;

ii) inform

al education support, to assist local comm

unities in orga-nizing educational events for young people on off school days to learn about space-related subjects and to participate in hands-on activities;

iii) hom

e education support, to assist parents in enhancing comm

uni-cations and interactions w

ith their children at home through

joint hands-on activities using space-related materials and

resources;iv)

international activities, to promote and support space education

activities outside Japan through collaborations with other coun-

tries and international organizations.

C. O

rganizational structure and major activities

Formal education support

Informal education support

Hom

e education support

International activities: Space

Education Seminar in B

angladesh

10

Bam

boo battery experiment dem

on-strated by a Japanese teacher at Seabrook Interm

ediate School on the occasion of SEEC

Astronaut D

oi and samples used for

an educational experiment relating to

space and life

SEEC session w

ith teaching demon-

strations by Japanese teachers sup-ported by the Space Education C

enter

D. C

ollaborations with other offices and departm

ents within JA

XA

Other offices and departm

ents of JAX

A also carry out activities that

have educational elements. The Space Education C

enter collaborates w

ith those offices and departments.

For example, the C

enter works in cooperation w

ith the planning and outreach group of the Public A

ffairs Departm

ent. This Departm

ent is responsible for sending JA

XA

staff as lecturers to give talks on a range of space-related topics on various occasions upon request. Particularly during the one-m

onth period celebrating Space Day in

Japan, on 12 September, a num

ber of JAX

A staff are sent to schools

to talk about space subjects.

The Space Education Center also w

orks in cooperation with the

Space Environment U

tilization Center, w

hich carries out education-related activities in association w

ith Space Shuttle flights and the use of the International Space Station (ISS). The Space Education C

enter has recently announced the opportunities for schools to par-ticipate in “Seeds in Space” project. U

sing seeds of the flowering

plant named “M

iyakogusa”, or Japanese lotus corniculatus, and “A

sagao”, or morning glories, this project allow

s the participating schools to com

pare those seeds that have been flown on the ISS w

ith norm

al seeds on the Earth in the growing process.

Resulting from

the collaborations with the H

uman Space System

s and U

tilization Mission D

irectory of JAX

A, the Space Education

Center continues to provide opportunities for teachers of prim

ary and secondary schools as w

ell as kindergartens in Japan to partici-pate in the annual Space Exploration Educators C

onference (SEEC),

held at Space Center H

ouston, in Houston, U

nited States of A

merica. The C

onference offers opportunities for teachers to learn about and exchange inform

ation and experience on using space m

aterials to teach across the curricula, not only for science, but also for language, arts, m

athematics, history and other subjects. O

n the occasion of SEEC

2011, in February 2011, JAX

A have provided the

opportunity for Japanese teachers to make lectures at local school in

Houston as new

approaches.

Call for opportunities to participate in

“Seeds in Space” project

11

Supporting senior high school class in environm

ental study together with

Satellite Applications and Prom

otion C

enter

The Satellite Applications and Prom

otion Center produces useful

information m

aterials with im

ages taken by JAX

A-operated satel-

lites for distribution to the public. The Space Education Center

works in collaboration w

ith the Satellite Applications and Prom

otion C

enter to carry out educational activities that use images taken by

JAX

A satellites.

The Space Education Center seeks for collaborations w

ith various entities outside JA

XA

that are engaged in education. Close collabo-

rations with teachers and schools are considered m

ost essential. The C

enter has continued to explore opportunities for collaborations w

ith associations of teachers, boards of education as well as publish-

ers of textbooks and companies of educational m

aterials, in its efforts to better integrate space subjects and m

aterials into the exist-ing curricula for form

al education and to produce education materi-

als that better meet needs of schools and teachers. Significant prog-

ress has been made in this area particularly in the past year. D

etails of collaborations w

ith those entities are provided in Chapter V

III of the present report.

In pursuing collaborations to expand space education activities, the C

enter takes a comprehensive approach. The C

enter seeks for col-laborations not only w

ith those entities that are involved in space science and technology and their applications, life science and Earth science, w

hich have clear links with space activities, but also w

ith others that are engaged in studies on hum

anities and civilizations as w

ell as arts and philosophies.

12

Space activities encompass the accum

ulation of human know

ledge and provide a com

mon thread that links m

any different aspects of hum

an activities. Many m

aterials that resulted from space activities

catch attention of young people and appeal to their curiosity. The challenge is to find a best w

ay to make those m

aterials available for use under m

ost conducive learning environment for young people.

Through its formal education support, the Space Education C

enter aim

s to expand and enhance the use of attractive space materials by

schools and teachers to assist the students in learning various sub-jects according to the curriculum

guidelines. The Center considers it

essential to work closely w

ith school teachers as they are in a better position to understand young people’s needs and feelings through their daily interactions.

There are a several strategies pursued by the Center to achieve that

goal.

One is to provide custom

ized support to the teachers who have con-

tacted the Center w

ith request for support. After the initial contact,

the Center’s staff hold num

erous consultations with those teachers to

articulate their needs and interest, identify goals and develop plans for activities for their classes. O

nce the plan has been developed w

ith the teacher, the Center identifies appropriate experts of JA

XA

from

a range of space science and technology fields as well as expe-

rienced educators and pedagogy experts and calls upon them to

provide knowledge and expertise to develop teaching and learning

materials. W

hen the teacher carries out classroom activities accord-

ing to the plan, the Center sends its staff and appropriate experts to

provide on-site support to the teacher. Upon request, the C

enter assists the teacher in evaluating the results of the activities. D

epending on the interest and request by the teacher or the school, the C

enter also assists in establishing partnerships with other

schools or promoting collaborations w

ith relevant entities in the local com

munity.

III. SUPPO

RT FOR

FOR

MA

L EDU

CATIO

N

A. O

bjectives and strategies

13

Supporting the class for environmen-

tal education, Kudan Junior H

igh School, C

hiyoda, Tokyo

Through this entire process of support (see the chart for “School Support: Process” below

), the Center ensures that initiatives com

e from

the teacher, and not the Center.

The Center’s support is not lim

ited to science classes. It covers a w

ide range of disciplinary fields taught at school, including social science, Japanese language and the arts. D

epending on the needs of and objectives pursued by the teachers, the C

enter’s support covers various types of classroom

activities, ranging from norm

al classes according to the curricula guidelines, integrated learning classes as w

ell as extracurricular activities. Following the expansion of its sup-

port to include kindergartens from 2007, the C

enter has been sup-porting an increasing num

ber of kindergartens, elementary schools

and junior and senior high schools, as well as faculties of education

of universities.

In order to ensure that the efforts made by those teachers and

schools that have received support from the C

enter to expand space education activities w

ould not be isolated and that their efforts w

ould be supported by the supervisory bodies overseeing the school m

anagement and activities, the C

enter has strengthened its efforts to establish collaborations w

ith boards of education in the local com-

munities, to jointly provide training opportunities for teachers to

learn about space education and to acquire skills to bring space into classroom

s.

Such training opportunities are also provided to potential candidates for teachers w

ho are studying in the faculties of education at univer-sities. The C

enter pursues collaborations with faculties of education

Supporting the Japanese language classJunior H

igh School attached to N

agasaki University

Space foods produced by students of O

bama Fisheris H

igh School, Obam

a, Fukui

14

as it is considered more desirable that the school teachers already

know about the benefits of space education and have basic skills to

conduct classroom activities using space m

aterials before they becom

e too busy to meet regular teaching requirem

ents and to deal w

ith administrative w

ork required at their schools.

In light of the recently revised curriculum guidelines issued by the

Ministry of Education, C

ulture, Sports, Science and Technology (M

EXT) in M

arch 2008, for K-12 grades, the C

enter has been focus-ing its efforts to help teachers to follow

the revised guidelines to adjust the contents of the classes as w

ell as methods by using rele-

vant space materials.

With the idea to foster “the strength to live”, the revised guidelines

aim to help the students develop independent m

inds to identify issues, analyze, think, judge, and take appropriate actions w

hile car-ing about and collaborating w

ith others. In terms of substantive con-

tent, the revised guidelines have expanded the subjects relating to science and m

athematics.

For the Center, it presents an excellent opportunity to introduce its

space education materials for a w

ider use by school teachers. The idea behind the revised guidelines resonates w

ith the principles of the C

enter, and it has developed a number of teaching m

aterials, m

ethods and programm

es through its support to teachers and schools in the past years particularly for science classes.

While som

e parts relate to mathem

atics and science had already begun to be follow

ed at schools from A

pril 2009, the revised curric-ulum

guidelines are to be implem

ented in elementary schools from

2011 and for the junior high schools in 2012. Textbook com

panies have begun to produce new

textbooks and supplementary learning

materials to follow

the revised guidelines. This presents a good opportunity for the C

enter to introduce space subjects and materials

into classroom teaching in a system

atic manner. The C

enter has been actively offering its support to textbook com

panies and those com-

panies producing supplementary learning m

aterials to use, for exam-

ple, images taken by JA

XA

satellites and spacecraft or photographs of space activities of JA

XA

.

Collaborating w

ith the Faculty of Education, N

agasaki University, to

train future teachers

Teachers training course

15

1. Introducing space education at schools across the country

Providing customized support to teachers and schools consum

es a large am

ount of staff time and efforts. A

classroom activity plan con-

sists of normally m

ore than one classes, and the period required to im

plement the plan could last for one full academ

ic year, requiring at least a several visits by the C

enter’s staff and experts. The Center

has, nonetheless, continued this labour-intensive approach to support school education w

ith the team of 5 staff m

embers.

The number of schools that received custom

ized support from the

Center increased from

20 in the first fiscal year, May 2005 to M

arch 2006, to 67 in the fifth fiscal year, A

pril 2010 to March 2011.

B. A

chievements

FY 2005Schools

SchoolsFY 2006

SchoolsSchools

FY 2007Schools

SchoolsFY 2008

SchoolsSchools

KindergartenElementary SchoolsJunior High SchoolsHigh SchoolsTOTAL

0151420

0301,158

3551,543

1831527

112337457898

1,804

11861742

941,634

8171,4994,044

214142050

1501,1771,088

5943,009

FY 2009Schools

Schools3 34181267

2502,1051,348 5374,240

NO

TE: Japanese fiscal year starts from A

pril 1 to next March 31.

<Num

bers of schools supported by the Center and the students benefited from

the support>

It should be noted that in the past year, some schools that had

received support from the C

enter in the preceding years have contin-ued classroom

activities with the use of space m

aterials without sup-

port from the C

enter. Through administered transfers from

one school to another, som

e of those teachers who had been supported

by the Center in the past have begun their classroom

activities with

the use of space materials at their new

schools by themselves. There

are apparently more schools that have started or that are carrying out

classroom activities using space m

aterials than the above statistics indicate.

Another m

ajor development is the increased opportunities for teach-

ers training in space education through collaborations with, for

example, boards of education or faculties of education. The C

enter

16

2. Creating a starting point for intellectual curiosity: K

obe Y

MC

A C

hitose Kindergarten, K

obe, Hyogo

The Space Education Center has been supporting kindergartens since

February 2007 to carry out space education activities. In January 2011, the C

enter continuously support the joint learning exercise by parents and children at K

obe YM

CA C

hitose Kindergarten. The chil-

dren enjoyed the explanation of various type of rockets and making

and launching straw rockets and unbrella rockets from

readily avail-able m

aterials around them w

hile learning about the basics of science of flight.The excitem

ent prevailed throughout the programm

e, which the cen-

ter had designed with the hope that it w

ould serve as the turning point for their grow

ing curiosity.

FY 2005Sessions

Students/Teachers

SessionsStudents/Teachers

SessionsStudents/Teachers

SessionsStudents/Teachers

FY 2006FY 2007

FY 2008

For candidates for teachers

NilNil

NilNil

1156

3234

For teachersTOTAL

111010

12121,2011,201

78242398

39421,1861,420

SessionsStudents/Teachers

FY 2009

2265

36381,1631,428

<Num

ber of teacher training sessions and participants>

NO

TE: Japanese fiscal year starts from A

pril 1 to next March 31.

started its support for the faculty of education by organizing one space education training session in 2007. D

uring the fiscal year 2008, three such sessions w

ere organized with the support of the

Center. A

s for the current fiscal year, two sessions have been orga-

nized, benefiting 265 students. In addition, the number of training

sessions for those teachers who are already teaching at school, has

also increased in comparison to years past from

one in the fiscal year of 2005 to 39 in the fiscal year of 2008. It has already reached 36 as of January 2010.

The joint learning exercise by parents and children at K

obe YM

CA

17

3. Opening the door into outer space: Yokoham

a-City Idogaya

Elem

entary School, Yokohama K

anagawa

Starting from the academ

ic year 2010, the Center has supported the

integrated interdisciplinary programm

e for the sixth-grade students of Idogaya Elem

entary School. Through this programm

e, the stu-dents learned about life in space, such as space food and space suit, after group research on the subject of “W

hat is space like?”. They also took part in hands-on activities, to carry out a vacuum

test and to m

ake umbrella bag rockets. They enjoyed unusual experience

studying the environment in space and flight m

echanism.

4. Protecting our environment and saving our planet: M

inami-

Tane Junior High School on third grade selected class of sci-

ence.

With the them

e of “The global environment as seen from

space”, there w

ill be talks about the Solar system, explanations of w

hy there is life on earth, and they w

ill be made aw

are that the earth is a m

iracle planet. Also, as the global envionm

ent as seen from

space, they will use satellite im

agery to see the envionmental prob-

lems such as global w

arming and desertification from

the view-

point of man-m

ade satellites.They w

ill be given the understanding of the earth’s current situa-tion as seen from

space and the awareness of w

hat they must do

with the problem

s about the global environment. A

fter the lecture of JA

XA

, they researched the envionment of K

agoshima and other

regions using satellite data.

Carrying out a vacuum

test and mak-

ing umbrella bag rockets.

Thinking about the global environ-m

ent from a point of view

from outer

space

18

6. Strengthening partnerships with universities to support

teachers training: Faculty of Education, Shim

ane University

Having recognized the advantages of enhancing understanding of

space education among the students w

ho wish to becom

e teachers, the Space Education C

enter has pursued collaborations with interest-

ed universities with faculties of education. This is also part of the

Center’s efforts to contribute to enhancing education in the local

comm

unity.

One such exam

ple is its collaboration with the Faculty of Education

of Shimane U

niversity. The Center w

orked together with faculty

mem

bers of the University to organize a sem

inar on space education as part of the teacher-training course for the students of the Faculty of Education. For the students of the elem

entary and junior high schools attached to the U

niversity, the Center supported the organi-

zation of special lectures by sending space experts. The Center also

provided education materials for the teacher training courses orga-

nized by the University and sent space experts as lecturers.

5. Learning science technology related to space exploration

from experts: Tokai U

niversity Boyo H

igh School

It was adopted as a Science Partnership Project(SPP) conducted by

Japan Science and Technology Agency(JST). A

s Tokai University

Boyo H

igh School's continuing theme “Space”, they learned about

science technology related to space exploration. The specialist gave the students lectures and experim

ents for several times focused on

food and environment. The students visited relative facilities and

presented their studies.

Experiments focused on food

Seminar for future school teachers

Science Academ

y

Teachers training for the renewal of

teaching licences

19

7. Advancing space education on the occasion of a rare celestial

phenomenon: solar eclipse on 22 July 2009

The Space Education Center took the advantage of the total solar

eclipse that occurred on 22 July 2009, the longest one during the tw

enty-first century lasting a maxim

um of 6 m

inutes and 39 seconds off Southeast A

sia, to stimulate interest of children in learning m

ore about celestial bodies and their phenom

ena. On that day, the total

eclipse of the Sun was visible from

within a narrow

corridor that tra-versed half of the Earth, crossing also the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. A

partial eclipse was visible from

the entire parts of Japan.

Besides carrying out its ow

n special project to encourage the general public to take photographs of pin-hole im

ages of the total solar eclipse, the C

enter provided support for the special classes that addressed the solar eclipse on that day.

As part of the tele-education program

me betw

een Ogasaw

ara V

illage, located in the archipelago of “Ogasaw

a Group” at som

e 1,000 kilo-m

eters directly south of Tokyo, and Tamarokuto Science

Museum

of Nishi-Tokyo C

ity, participants on both sides observed and took photographs of the pin-hole im

ages of the solar eclipse. W

ith the high-definition images and video conference system

pro-vided by the W

ideband Internetworking Engineering Test and

Dem

onstration Satellite of JAX

A, know

n as “KIZU

NA

”, the partici-pants then com

pared their photo-images of the solar eclipse.

At C

hohshi High School of C

hiba Prefecture, the students conducted solar radio observation using the parabora antenna that they had built together. B

y observing the solar eclipse using scientific meth-

ods, they could deepen their understanding of the phenomenon.

Image taken by N

ational Astronom

ical O

bservatory of Japan, with transm

is-sion supported by N

ational Institute of Inform

ation and Com

munications

Technology (NIC

T) and JAX

A

Observing solar radio by their ow

n parabora antenna

20

As part of the executive directions set by the m

anagement of JA

XA

, the Space Education C

enter has been tasked since the fiscal year 2008 to establish strategic footholds in all nine regional blocs of Japan, i.e. H

okkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, H

okuriku and Shinetsu, Tokai, K

inki, Chugoku, Shikoku, K

yushu and Okinaw

a, by March 2012.

This is to ensure that the kind of classroom support provided by the

Center continues to be expanded and further enhanced in an

effective manner to benefit all prim

ary and secondary schools in the country w

ithout requiring direct and intense support by the Center

itself. While it does not need to be a school, and it could w

ell be a science m

useum or a board of education in the local com

munity, a

strategic foothold should endorse the goals and principles of the C

enter and should actively pursue the development of space

education materials and teaching m

ethods to be introduced to schools w

ithin the block under its responsibility. The Center w

as also tasked to ensure the steady increase in the num

ber of schools that new

ly introduce aerospace subjects into their classroom

teaching by using the materials or teaching m

ethods developed by the strategic foothold in their bloc.

As of February 2011, the C

enter has concluded agreements w

ith seventeen entities to serve as its strategic footholds, in H

okkaido, Tohoku, K

anto, Hokuriku and Shinetsu, Tokai, K

inki, Chugoku,

Kyushu and O

kinawa blocs.

C. E

stablishing strategic footholds

21

TohokuTohokuC

hugokuH

okkaidoH

okuriku/ShinetsuK

anto

Hokuriku/Shinetsu

Kyusyu/O

kinawa

Kyusyu/O

kinawa

Kanto

Kanto

TokaiC

hugokuC

hugokuK

inkiK

inki

Tohoku

2 Kodom

o = Children, Yugakukan = Study H

ouse, Shimin = C

ivic/Citizen

Akita

Miyagi

Shimane

Kushiro

Shimosuw

aTokyo

Kom

atsuK

agoshima

FukuokaTokyoTokyoShizuokaK

urashikiK

ureW

akayama

Osaka

Aom

ori

Akita U

niversityM

iyagi technical College／Sendai Technical College

Shimane U

niversityN

PO K

odomo Yugakukan Shim

in Stage2

Shimosuw

a-Town B

oard of EducationW

aseda University

Kom

atsu-City B

oard of EducationK

agoshima-C

ityK

yusyu University

Tokyo-Gakugei U

niversityK

okubunji-City B

oard of EducationShizuoka Science M

useum - R

U・K

U・R

UK

urashiki-City B

oard of Education　K

ure-City Yam

ato Museum

Wakayam

a-Prefecture Board of Education

Osaka-Prefectural Education C

enter

21-Mar-08

19-Sep-0827-O

ct-082-D

ec-082-D

ec-0829-M

ay-09

1-Dec-09

10-Jan-108-M

ar-1010-M

ar-101-A

pr-1012-Jun-101-Jul-1018-A

ug-1015-N

ov-1020-D

ec-10

1-Aug-09

Bloc

Area

EntityD

ate of SignatureList of strategic footholds (as of February 2011)

Aom

ori-City Junior H

igh SchoolsW

orking Group on Science

22

Supporting informal education continues to be another pillar of the

activities of the Space Education Center. U

sing unique programm

es and m

aterials that it has developed, the Center supports educational

activities carried out by other entities rather than schools outside the form

al curricula, normally during off school days.

Through its inform

al education support, the Center aim

s to m

aximize the synergies of space education efforts undertaken by

various entities, including not only local governments but also

relevant non-governmental and non-profit entities. The center aim

s to achieve this objective w

hile ensuring that its goals and principles continue to be follow

ed by those entities involved in space education activities around the country and building upon w

hat has been achieved by its “C

osmic C

ollege”.

In the past year, the Center has follow

ed a few strategies as

described below.

Based on its belief that the responsibilities of fostering local children

lie with the local com

munities, the C

enter encouraged more local

comm

unities to take the lead in organizing space education events for local children w

hile the Center itself plays only a supportive and

advisory role. This is to allow for the m

assive expansion of space education activities to reach out to all parts of Japan w

ithout increasing the level of resource requirem

ents of the Center. B

y ensuring that the local com

munities are involved from

the beginning of the planning, the C

enter has made efforts to increase the sense of

ownership and responsibilities am

ong the local comm

unities organizing those events.

The Center has increased its efforts to establish partnerships w

ith interested industries to organize space education activities. W

ays and m

eans to establish partnerships have varied depending on the interest of the industries and the circum

stances of the activities concerned.

The Center’s efforts have shifted from

the planning, organization and m

anagement of events to the enhancem

ent of its support system

IV. SUPPO

RT FO

R IN

FOR

MA

L ED

UC

ATIO

N

A. O

bjectives and strategies

23

for space education instructors and leaders, who play key roles in

space education events organized around the country. In addition to providing training opportunities and technical advice, the C

enter has begun to provide m

aterial support to those instructors and leaders w

ho are active in carrying out space education activities.

1. For young people: from kindergarten to high-school students

Most of the activities for young people that the C

enter supports con-tinue to be carried out as part of “C

osmic C

ollege”, which aim

s to achieve the follow

ing objectives: i) to increase interest of young people in science and technology; ii) to help establish voluntary groups of young people that are fond of science and technology; iii) to m

otivate young people to raise questions, think and find solutions by them

selves; iv) to encourage collaborations with others; v) to

lead young people to appreciate the importance of life. The C

osmic

College offers three courses, covering from

kindergarten to high school students. In addition to those C

osmic C

ollege courses, the C

enter also supports a few other recurrent space education events

and non-recurrent special events for young people.

In supporting the organization of Cosm

ic College courses, the

Center has continued to w

ork closely with the Young A

stronaut Club

(YAC

)-Japan, an incorporated foundation originally established in 1986 and currently w

ith 129 branches across the country and about 3,000 m

embers to carry out educational activities addressing space

and science.

a. Cosm

ic College: K

ids Course

The “Kids C

ourse” is for the children younger than the second year in the elem

entary school students and their parents to participate. The program

me aim

s to increase interest of the participating chil-dren in and their fam

iliarity of the surrounding nature. Through hands-on activities involving observations, experim

ents and handi-craft w

ork, the programm

e is designed to cultivate young children’s scientific thinking and to build the basis for logical thinking process.

B. Program

me structure

Kids C

ourses

24

b. Cosm

ic College: Fundam

ental Course

The “Fundamental C

ourse” is for the school students between the

third-year in the elementary school and the third-year in the junior

high school. The programm

e aims to enhance the students’ interest

in the surrounding natural objects and phenomena. Through hands-

on activities involving scientific observations, experiments and

handicraft work designed for the study of nature, the program

me

aims to enhance their scientific and logical thinking capabilities.

c. Cosm

ic College: A

dvanced Course

The “Advanced C

ourse” is for the junior and senior high school stu-dents. The program

me norm

ally lasts for a few days. Through

hands-on activities involving scientific observations, experiments

and handicraft work, the program

me leads the students to pose sci-

entific questions and to come up w

ith answers for those questions by

themselves. The program

me aim

s to enhance their scientific and logical thinking capabilities.

The High School C

ourse, which used to be a separate program

me of

the Cosm

ic College, has been integrated into the A

dvanced Course

since April 2009.

d. Other recurrent activities

At Sagam

ihara Cam

pus, the Space Education Center organizes the

five-day training programm

e for high school students, during their sum

mer vacation period, to learn how

to design scientific missions

through team w

ork and to experience the mission evaluation, requir-

ing them to present their m

issions and respond to questions from the

audience, including leading space scientists and engineers of JAX

A.

This programm

e is known as “Space M

ission High School”, or

“Kim

ission”, which is a com

bination of “Kim

i”, or “you” in Japanese, and “m

ission”.

Fundamental C

ourses

Advanced C

ourses

Group discussions and presentations

during “Kim

ission”

25

As m

uch as the circumstances allow

and upon request, the Center

assists other departments and offices of JA

XA

in organizing, or co-organizing w

ith other research entities, their educational activities for young people. Such activities include Space Schools, organized by the Institute of Space and A

stronautical Science (ISAS), to pro-

vide the students with opportunities to interact w

ith its leading space scientists, M

icrogravity Experim

ent Contests, by the Space

Environment U

tilization Center, to provide the selected students

with opportunities to conduct m

icrogravity experiments during the

parabolic flights, and Science Cam

ps, hosted by Space Centers of

JAX

A in Tsukuba, Tanegashim

a and Kakuta and organized by Japan

Science Foundation, for the students to visit space facilities, listen to lectures by the leading space engineers and to experience m

aking and launching of m

odel rockets.

Microgravity experim

ent by the students

Science Cam

p

Lecture of “School of Space facilitated” by ISA

S

e. Special events

The Space Education Center collaborated w

ith the local government

of Aichi Prefecture, YA

C and K

odomo-U

chu-Mirai A

ssociation (K

U-M

A)

3 in organizing the Japan Water R

ocket Contest 2010 at

the same venue as the Expo 2005 A

ichi Japan. With the participation

of about 500 primary and secondary school students, the students

who had been selected through the regional contests held in nine

regional blocs of Japan competed for the accuracy of launch and

flight distance of the water rocket.

The Center supported the “C

anSat Kohshien”

4 by covering the event live by the dedicated TV

channel operated in collaboration with

YAC

. Each participating high school student team built a “C

anSat”, nano-scale quasi-satellite m

odel weighing 350 to 1050 gram

s with all

basic functions of a satellite fitted into a soda can of 350 ml, and its

carrier to be placed onboard the model rocket provide by the organiz-

er. The six participating teams com

peted for the duration of the C

anSat Kohshien

All Japan W

ater Rocket C

ontest 2010

3 “Kodom

o”, “Uchu” and ”M

irai” mean ”C

hildren”, ”Space”, ”Future”, respectively, in Japanese.4 “K

ohshien” is the name of the prestigious ballpark in H

yogo Prefecture where the traditional Japan H

igh School Baseball C

hampionship is

held every summ

er with the participation of about 50 high school team

s selected through the prefectural tournaments.

26

Space Education Leaders Seminar

Space Education L

eaders Skill-Up

Course

2. For educators and instructors of space education

As for instructors of space education activities, the C

enter has been offering Space Education Leaders Sem

inars since April 2008, fol-

lowing the restructuring and m

erging of the Educators Course of the

Cosm

ic College and the Leaders Sem

inar, which had been separately

organized to provide training opportunities for any individuals inter-ested in carrying out space education activities. In 2009, the C

enter began to offer training opportunities for those instructors w

ith expe-rience to further enhance their know

ledge about space education and their skilks. The support system

for the space education instructors w

ho have completed the Sem

inars has also been enhanced, to facili-tate com

munications am

ong them and to provide m

aterial support for their space education activities.

a. Space Education L

eaders Seminar

The Space Education Leaders Seminar is for any individual interest-

ed in carrying out space education activities with or w

ithout experi-ence in inform

al education activities. The programm

e aims to trans-

fer to the particidants basic knowledge and skills that are required

for instructors of space education activities. Am

ong other things, the participants learn about the goals and principles of the C

enter, role of leaders and understanding children’s needs, as w

ell as crisis man-

agement and safety m

easures. The Center issues licenses for Space

Education Leader (SEL) to those individuals who have com

pleted the Sem

inar.

The Space Education Leaders Skill-Up C

ourse is for those individu-als w

ho have completed the above Sem

inar and who w

ish to im

prove their skills in conducting space education activities. Through this C

ourse, the participants obtain the latest news on the

developments w

ith space activities, basic knowledge in the aero-

space area required to carry out space education activities as well as

know-how

and skills for activity managem

ent, teaching skills and m

ethods to develop educational materials.

image-capturing of the target m

arker on the ground after the release of the C

anSat 300 meters above the ground until its landing.

27

b. Space Education L

eaders Support System

As part of its support to the instructors and leaders w

ho have com-

pleted the Space Education Leaders Seminar in the past four years,

the Space Education Center has a rental system

for its education m

aterials and equipment for use during their space education activi-

ties. The rental period is up to one month, and the use of m

aterials and equipm

ent of the Center requires the C

enter’s prior approval. A

fter the completion of the activities concerned, the users are

requested to provide feedback on the rented materials and equip-

ment.

Starting from D

ecember 2009, the C

enter provides an on-line forum

to facilitate the comm

unications among the space education instruc-

tors and leaders as well as w

ith staff of the Center. The “Space

Education Com

munity Site” allow

s the registered users to exchange inform

ation, ideas and educational materials as w

ell as to receive the latest inform

ation on the Center’s m

aterials produced and most

recent and upcoming activities.

The Center has also started in the past year a new

system of support

for the instructors and leaders. The Center now

provides financial support on a selective basis for those w

ho carry out space education hands-on activities for young people, at 18 years old or younger, or activities in support of such activities for young people. Interested instructors and leaders m

ust have completed the Space Education

Leaders Seminar in the past three years and their activities to apply

for funding support must not be co-organized or co-sponsored by

JAX

A. The expenditure item

s to be supported by this system include

those relating to travel, educational materials, expendable item

s, rental of the m

eeting rooms and facilities, com

munications, trans-

portation and insurance for the participants. An application subm

it-ted by an individual is eligible for funding support up to 50,000 Japanese yen, and a group of tw

o or more individuals is eligible up

to 200,000 Japanese yen, and the amount w

ill depend on the size and quality of the proposal.

Small w

ind tunnel for rent

Space suits for rent

Com

munity site registration through

the homepage of the Space Education

Center

28

The pool of space educators and instructors w

ho have newly

received training from the C

enter through the Cosm

ic College

Educators C

ourse until February 2011 and through the Space Education Leaders Sem

inar continued to expand. As for the current

fiscal year, FY2010, the num

ber of participants of the Space Education Leaders Sem

inars as well as its Skill-U

p Courses that

have been organized to date is 557 in total as of February 2011.

Reflecting the success of the C

enter’s strategy to transfer the central responsibilities as the organizers to the local com

munities, the num

-ber of space education events organized around the country contin-ued to increase w

hile the level of financial resources remained the

same and the num

ber of staff increased from 4 to 11 in FY

2010.

C. A

chievements

FY 2005Events

ParticipantsEvents

ParticipantsEvents

ParticipantsEvents

ParticipantsFY 2006

FY 2007FY 2008

Kids CourseFundamental CourseAdvanced CourseHigh School Course*TOTAL

6101118

6005656543

1,273

14101126

1,3185056135

1,919

26342Nil62

3,0682,27863Nil5,409

3961NilNil100

2,0482,257Nil

Nil4,305

EventsParticipants

FY 2009

46813Nil130

3,2174,96592Nil8,274

NO

TE: Japanese Fiscal year starts from A

pril 1 to next March 31.

* High School C

ourse was m

erged with A

dvance Course from

April 2008 and reorganized.

<Num

ber of events and participants of Cosm

ic College courses>

FY 2005FY 2006

FY 2007FY 2008

Cosmic College:

TOTAL

Space EducationLeaders Seminars**

Cosmic College:Educators Courses*

349Nil

213

562

192Nil

233

425

174Nil

600

744

Nil

388 Nil

388

FY 2009

Nil

538 Nil

538*

Cosm

ic College Educators C

ourse and Leaders Seminar w

ere reorganized and merged to becom

e

Space Education Leaders Seminar from

April 2008.

** Space Education Leaders Sem

inars include those organized for the purpose of training instructors

of the Seminars.

<Num

ber of space education instructors and leaders>

29

As the num

ber of space education events continues to increase, the dem

and for use of the teaching materials developed by the C

enter also increased. In the past year, the C

enter reorganized its system of

managing its num

erous learning and teaching materials, packaging

some m

aterials for ready-use and imm

ediate rental for selected activities and m

onitoring the frequency of use. The packaged mate-

rials include those activities to make and fly w

ater rockets, syringe rockets, um

brella-bag rockets and hot-air balloons, conducting m

icro-gravity experiments and experim

ents with atm

ospheric pres-sure and com

paring models of the M

oon and the Earth, to name a

few exam

ples.

30

As natural evolution of its support for inform

al education through collaborations w

ith local comm

unities, the Space Education Center

has increased its efforts to bring space home in the past year. Its sup-

port for home education is provided m

ainly through its collabora-tions w

ith Kodom

o-Uchu-M

irai Association (K

U-M

A) in organiz-

ing “Space Schools for Families”, for participation by parents and

children together.

The programm

e of “Space School for Families” consists of a several

gatherings throughout the year, called “schooling”, where the partic-

ipating parents and children learn together about various space-relat-ed subjects and conduct basic experim

ents, and the homew

ork to be done betw

een the schooling, using the learning materials distributed

during the schooling. While sim

ilar to the programm

e of regular schools, this program

me is unique in providing opportunities for the

parents and their children to share time together at hom

e to discuss space-related topics and to conduct experim

ents as homew

ork. Through “Space School for Fam

ilies”, the Center aim

s to enhance parent-child relationships and to help create conducive environm

ent for learning at hom

e.

V. SUPPO

RT FO

R E

DU

CAT

ION

AT HO

ME

A. B

ackground and objectivesThe series of “Space School for Families” in collaboration w

ith K

U-M

A began as a separate and distinctive program

me since the

last fiscal year, starting from A

pril 2009. During the last fiscal year,

fifteen courses were organised totaling 2,000 participants. For the

current fiscal year, from A

pril 2010 to March 2011, 20 courses have

already been organized totaling 3,187 participants.

The success of this new program

me is reflected not only in term

s of the quantity of the courses and participants, but also in the feedback from

the parents who participated in this program

me. The C

enter has received positive com

ments from

a number of parents w

ho

B. A

chievements

31

appreciated the opportunities to do something to think, to conduct

simple experim

ents and to discuss with their children at schooling

sessions and at home. Through the program

me offered by the Space

School for Families, som

e parents discovered and treasured what

their children really enjoy doing.

For the Space School for Families, series of teaching guides on typi-

cal hands-on activities continue to be produced, covering various scientific topics under the follow

ing 12 themes: i) flight and float-

ing; ii) light; iii) soil and sand; iv) water; v) air (atm

osphere); vi) heat, tem

perature and combustion; vii) electricity and m

agnetism;

viii) force and motion; ix) breeding of anim

als and cultivation of flow

er and plants; x) field observations; xi) sound; and xii) Sun and its com

panions. As of February 2011, about 20 kinds of teaching

guides have been developed.

FY 2007

FY 2008

FY 2009

Course

ParticipantsN

ilN

il3

1,03715

2,000

<Num

ber of Course and Participants of Space School for Fam

ilies >

32

The Space Education Center continues to expand collaborations

with entities of other countries and international organizations to

promote space education. In this effort, the C

enter uses as much as

possible the existing framew

orks for cooperation in space activities and endeavours to create synergies of efforts m

ade through different fram

eworks.

Through its international activities, the Center places em

phasis on enhancing benefits for prim

ary and secondary school teachers and children through space education, particularly in A

sia and the Pacific. The space education initiatives taken w

ithin the framew

ork of the A

sia-Pacific Regional Space A

gency Forum (A

PRSA

F) for prim

ary and secondary school teachers and students, therefore, are given high priority.

While recognizing benefits of introducing program

s and materials

developed by other space agencies with established education

programs for use by Japanese teachers and schools, the C

enter also m

akes efforts to share its space education principles and approaches as w

ell as materials particularly w

ith developing countries that are increasingly interested in and capable of carrying out space activities.

As for developing countries in other regions, the C

enter supports their space education activities through initiatives taken by the U

nited Nations Educational, Scientific and C

ultural Organization

(UN

ESCO

) and other entities of the United N

ations system as w

ell as developm

ent agencies, such as Japan International Cooperation

Agency (JIC

A).

Cooperation w

ith space-faring nations in space education activities is pursued m

ainly through the framew

ork for cooperation provided by the International Space Education B

oard (ISEB).

VI. IN

TE

RN

ATIO

NA

L AC

TIV

ITIE

S

A. O

bjectives and strategies

33

The Space Education Center has supported educational activities of

Asia-Pacific R

egional Space Agency Forum

(APR

SAF) since 2005

and has served as the Secretariat of APR

SAF Space Education and

Aw

areness Working G

roup since 2006. Currently consisting of

mem

bers from 17 countries and 3 international organizations and

one associate mem

ber organization5 , the W

orking Group has

become increasingly active in the past few

years with the aim

of: i) effectively using space m

aterials to enhance education for young people; ii) providing education and training opportunities for young people in space science and technology; iii) contributing to enhanc-ing m

utual understanding among countries in the region through

exchange opportunities for young people; and iv) increasing public aw

areness of the societal benefits and importance of space activities.

In addition to organizing space education events for primary and

secondary school teachers and students, the Working G

roup has strengthened efforts tow

ard: i) making m

ore teaching and learning m

aterials available in local languages; ii) aligning its space educa-tion efforts w

ith global educational initiatives taken by the entities of the U

nited Nations system

and other international organizations; and iii) contributing to enhancing inter-regional cooperation by m

aking it possible for countries of other regions to benefit from its

space education initiatives.

Starting from 2005, the W

orking Group has organized the W

ater R

ocket Event each year, imm

ediately following the A

PRSA

F ses-sion. This annual regional Event has provided opportunities for young people betw

een 12 and 16 years old not only to learn about basics of rocket science and space activities in general, but also to learn about other countries and their cultures, to build lasting friend-ship beyond national borders based on com

mon interest in space. In

2010, two A

PRSA

F Water R

ocket Events were held. The fifth

APR

SAF W

ater Rocket Event had been held in K

hlong Luang, Pathum

Thani, Thailand, on 23 and 24 January 2010, imm

ediately preceding the A

PRSA

F-16, with the participation of 53 students and

B. Focusing on children in A

sia: Asia-Pacific R

egional Space Agency Forum

Working G

roup mem

bers during A

PRSA

F-17, held in Melbourne,

Victoria, Australia, N

ovember 2010

APR

SAF-17 W

ater Rocket E

vent, M

elbourne, Victoria, A

ustralia, N

ovember 2010

5 Australia, B

angladesh, Cam

bodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, M

alaysia, Myanm

ar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, R

epublic of K

orea, Singapore Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

, Asian Institute of Technology, the U

nited Nations Educational, Scientific and C

ultural O

rganization (UN

ESCO

), the United N

ations Com

mittee on the Peaceful U

ses of Outer Space (U

N C

OPU

OS) and its secretariat, the U

nited N

ations Office for O

uter Space Affairs (U

NO

OSA

), are currently mem

bers of the Working G

roup.

34

23 teachers and leaders from 15 countries, and the sixth A

PRSA

F W

ater Rocket Event w

as held in is Melbourne, V

ictoria, Australia,

on 20 and 21 Novem

ber 2010, imm

ediately preceding the A

PRSA

F-17, with the participation of 33 students from

12 countries w

ith 34 teachers/leaders from 13 countries. The seventh A

PRSA

F W

ater Rocket Event is planned to be held in Singapore, on 3 and 4

Decem

ber 2011, imm

ediately preceding the APR

SAF-18.

The Working G

roup has organized the Poster Contest under a select-

ed theme each year since 2006 during the A

PRSA

F session, for chil-dren of the age betw

een 8 and 11 years old. From am

ong those post-ers subm

itted by the participating countries, the participants of the A

PRSA

F session vote to select the best poster, for APR

SAF B

est Poster Aw

ard, and the second and third best posters for APR

SAF

Special Poster Awards.

In 2010, two A

PRSA

F Poster Contests w

ere held. On the occasion

of APR

SAF-16, to contribute to the celebration of Iternational Year

of Astronom

y in 2009, the Working G

roup had produced a calendar for A

pril 2010 – March 2011 using the posters subm

itted for the A

PRSA

f-16 Poster Contest, held under “O

ur Universe – G

reat D

iscoveries”.

On the occasionof A

PRSA

F-17, to contribute to the celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives on the occasion of International Year of B

iodiversity in 2010, the Working

APR

SAF-13 W

ater Rocket E

vent, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2006

APR

SAF-14 W

ater Rocket E

vent, Bangalore, India, 2007

APR

SAF-15 W

ater Rocket E

vent, H

anoi, Vietnam, 2008

APR

SAF-12 W

ater Rocket E

vent, K

itakyushu, Japan, 2005

alendar for 2011-12, with posters sub-

mitted to A

RPSAF-17 Poster Contest

Poster by an Indonesian student who

won A

PRSAF-17 Best Poster Aw

ard

APR

SAF-16 W

ater Rocket E

vent, K

hlong Luang, P

athum T

hani, Thailand, January 2010

35

Group produced a calendar for A

pril 2011 – March 2012 using the

posters submitted for the last C

ontest, held under “Space technology to H

elp the Earth”.

28 posters had been submitted from

10 countries, and winners of the

Awards have been announced during the A

PRSA

F-16, Bangkok,

Thailand from 26 to 29 January 2010. 23 posters had been sum

itted from

9 countries, and winners of the Aw

ards have been announced during the A

PRSA

F-17, Melbourne, V

ictoria, Australia from

23 to 26 N

ovember 2010.

The theme for the next Poster C

ontest is "The next 50 years in Space", and it is planned during the A

PRSA

F-18, Singapore, from 6

to 9 Decem

ber 2011.

Poster Contest in H

a Noi, V

ietnam,

2008 under the theme “W

onders of the U

niverse”

Poster Contest in B

angkok, Thailand, January 2010 under the them

e “Our

Universe – G

reat Discoveries

Poster Contest in Melbourne, Victoria,

Australia N

ovember 2010 under the

theme “Space Technology to H

elp the Earth”

Poster Contest in B

angalore, India, 2007 under the them

e “50 Years in Space”

Studying Flight mechanism

of flying seeds in the sim

ple window

tunnel dur-ing hands-on session of the Space Education Sem

inar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Recognising the need for providing opportunities for students and

teachers of primary and secondary schools particularly in develop-

ing countries to enhance their understanding of space science and technology and their applications and to participate in hands-on space education activities, the W

orking Group convened space edu-

cation forums and sem

inars in Vietnam

and Indonesia in 2006 and Sri L

anka in 2009. The last sem

inar was held in D

haka and E

nayetpur, Bangladesh on 17-19 January, co-organized by

Bangladesh A

stronomical Society (B

AS) and JA

XA

.

36

Establishing ISEB in October 2005

ISEB mem

bers during IAC

2010, held in P

rague, Czech R

epublic in Septem

ber/October 2010

C. C

ollaborations with advanced space-faring nations: International Space Education Board

The Space Education Center represents JA

XA

in the International Space Education B

oard (ISEB) and collaborates w

ith other ISEB

mem

bers to promote space education. Established in O

ctober 2005 by the C

anadian Space Agency (C

SA), the European Space A

gency (ESA

), the National A

eronautics and Space Adm

inistration of the U

nited States (NA

SA) and JA

XA

as its Founding Mem

bers, ISEB

now includes C

entre National d’Etudes Spatiales (C

NES), the

French space agency, as a Mem

ber from O

ctober 2006, and V

ictorian Space Science Education Centre (V

SSEC) as an A

ssociate M

ember from

October 2010. The objectives of ISEB

are: i) to increase science, technology, engineering and m

athematics literacy

achievement in connection w

ith space; and ii) to support the future w

orkforce needs of space programs. W

hile ISEB m

eets once a year w

ith the participation of heads of education of its mem

ber agencies during the annual IA

C, the activities of ISEB

are being carried out and coordinated by its R

epresentative Working G

roup, consisting of one officer each from

the ISEB m

ember agencies. The m

embership

In order to expand the pool of skilled and informed educators

who can effectively use w

ater rockets to enhance education for young people and to establish a netw

ork of those educators, the International W

ater Rocket Education W

orkshop was host-

ed by Victorian Space Science C

entre (VSSEC

) in Melbourne,

Australia, from

30 June to 3 July 2008. Teachers, educators and space experts from

12 countries in Asia and the Pacific as

well as Latin A

merica participated in the W

orkshop, which

resulted in establishing an Internet-based Wiki site to serve as

an on-line forum for any interested teachers and educators to

exchange information, view

s and education materials relating

to water rockets.

(See Wiki site: http://w

iki.vssec.vic.edu.au/waterrockets/index.

php?title=Main_Page).

With a look back over the years, the W

orking Group has creat-

ed a report on water rocket activities for educational purposes

to seek for sponsorship by not only space-related public enti-ties, but also com

mercial entities in Septem

ber 2010.

Flight testing various types of water

rockets

Brochure on W

ater Rocket A

ctivities for Educational Purposes

37

JAX

A Student Presentation, at CO

SPAR

2010, Bremen, G

ermany

GEN

SO Project concept

Interactions with H

eads of Agencies,

IAC

2010, Prague, Czech R

epublic.

Lunch tim

e event at International Student Z

one, IAC

2010, Prague, C

zech Republic.

is open to any public organization carrying out space activities and pursuing education program

mes.

In 2010 and 2011, the following projects w

ere carried out within the

framew

ork of ISEB: i) international student program

mes at the

International Astronautical C

ongresses (IAC

’s) held in Prague, C

zech Republic in Septem

ber/October 2010 and at the Scientific

Assem

bly of the Com

mittee on Space R

esearch (CO

SPAR

) in B

remen, G

ermany in July 2010; ii) international participation in

NA

SA A

cademy; iii) “G

lobal Educational Netw

ork for Satellite O

perations” (GEN

SO) project; and v) C

anSat activities. The use of the International Space Station for educational purposes is also rec-ognised as an im

portant initiative that needs to be undertaken.

The term of the chairm

anship is one year, and it rotates among the

Founding mem

bers. Following its successful initial year under the

chairmanship of ESA

, ISEB w

as chaired by NA

SA from

October

2006, by CSA

from Septem

ber 2007 and by JAX

A from

October

2008, by ESA from

October 2009, N

ASA

is currently serving as the chair again.

The Space Education Center continued to support the activities of

ISEB by participating in the organization of IA

C and C

OSPA

R

Student Programm

es, and sending Japanese students for those Program

mes and supporting the participation of Japanese graduate

students in GEN

SO project w

orkshops and NA

SA A

cademies, held

at Goddard Space Flight C

enter in summ

er 2008, 2009 and 2010, and A

mes R

esearch Center in sum

mer 2009.

Particularly during the chairmanship of JA

XA

, the Center contribut-

ed to advancing the objectives of ISEB by establishing the Task

Group for Student Program

mes, reorienting the w

ork of the R

epresentative Working G

roup to focus on policy and coordination issues, coordinating the IA

C Student Program

me and ensuring the

participation of a large number of Japanese students. The total of 43

students participated in the Programm

e. Recognizing that the activi-

ties of ISEB had been carried out predom

inantly for university and graduate students, the C

enter proposed to initiate a joint activity for the benefit of prim

ary and secondary school teachers and students.

38

The Center suggested the exchange of education m

aterials as an exam

ple in this regard, as it did with E

SA by translating into

Japanese the set of educational DV

Ds of ESA

on the scientific experim

ents on the International Space Station for use by schools in Japan.

During IA

C 2009, the Japanese students w

orked with the K

orean Local O

rganizing Com

mittee to carry out hands-on activities for

local Korean children as part of the Space Festival, w

hich took place in parallel to IA

C 2009. The Japanese students also w

orked with

Korean students supported by the K

orea Aerospace R

esearch Institute (K

AR

I) to organize a joint KA

RI-JA

XA

Student Session, introducing each other’s space projects undertaken by university and graduate students, including C

anSat experiments.

During IA

C2010, the Japanese students carried out hands-on out-

reach activities for local Japanese Elementary School in Prague as a

new approach.

JAX

A Student H

ands-on Session at local Japanese S

chool during IA

C2010 , Prague, C

zech Republic.

D. Pursuing cooperation w

ith developing countries outside Asia

1. Supporting UN

ESC

O efforts

Upon invitation by U

NE

SCO

, the Space Education C

enter participated in the w

orkshops organized by UN

ESCO

in and for the developing countries. Follow

ing its participation for the first time in

the UN

ESCO

workshops w

hen they were held in m

ultiple cities of C

olombia in N

ovember and D

ecember 2005, the C

enter has participated to date in those w

orkshops held in multiple cities in

Ecuador, Peru, Tanzania and Vietnam

.

From 2008 to 2010, the C

enter introduced water rockets as

educational activities and supported hands-on session for school children to experience the launch of w

ater rockets at the workshops

Participants of the workshop w

ith the D

eputy Minister of E

ducation and Vocational Training (center), D

ar-es-Salaam

, Tanzania

39

Head of the space agency of Peru

conducting the first water rocket

launch, Lima, Peru

Mayor of Ibarra opening the w

ater rocket com

petition

Water rocket lecture and launch in

Salinas, Ecuador

held in Dar-es-Salaam

and Arusha, Tanzania, in M

ay 2008, Lima,

Peru, in June 2009, and the Philippines in February 2010.

At the regional space cam

p held in Ibarra, Ecuador, in May 2008 for

teachers and students from five Latin A

merican countries, i.e.

Argentina, B

razil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, the C

enter also helped organize the session to build w

ater rockets and the water rocket

launch competition. Lectures on w

ater rocket theory at an advanced level w

ere also offered at the space camps held in Salinas and Puerto

Aroyo, G

alapagos, Ecuador in June 2009, where college students

participated.

....and in Puerto Ayora, St. C

ruz, G

alapagos, Ecuador

2. Supporting water rocket activities around the w

orld

The partnership with U

NESC

O has turned out to be effective in

promoting w

ater rocket activities for educational purposes, using the m

aterials provided by the Space Education Center. It has opened the

door for collaborations with those other developing countries

including those outside the region of Asia and the Pacific w

ith em

erging space capabilities with w

illingness to initiate space education activities to reach out to a large num

ber of school teachers. A

s part of such collaborations, the Center has continued to

support water rocket events as w

ell as associated teachers seminars

held in Argentina, B

razil, Chile, C

olombia, Ecuador, N

igeria, Philippines and V

ietnam.

40

While the C

enter has introduced its teaching methods and m

aterials in developing countries, it has also benefited from

inputs provided by enthusiastic teachers and educators in developing countries. B

uilding upon the Educator’s Manual for W

ater Rockets developed

by the Center and translated into Spanish in cooperation w

ith U

NESC

O, teachers in som

e countries, such as Argentina, have

developed advanced teaching materials to m

eet the needs of their classes.

The map below

shows the countries to w

hich the Center provided

technical and materials support for their w

ater rocket activities. The C

enter continues to receive various ideas from teachers and

educators in those countries.

Teaching physics in Argentina using

water rockets

Teachers training in Brazil

Water rocket w

orkshop in Chile

Water rocket com

petition during “Space A

dventure”, Baranquilla, Colombia

41

Welcom

ing the group of science teachers from

African countries, 2008

3. Supporting Japan International Cooperation A

gency (JICA

) as part of its training program

me

In response to requests by Japan International Cooperation A

gency (JIC

A), the C

enter received groups of African science teachers in

September in 2006, 2007 and 2008 to introduce space education.

The Center provided short hands-on sessions for those teachers to

use space materials and resources to stim

ulate interest of students in science classes. In total, the C

enter provided such opportunities to 24 science teachers from

nine African countries, i.e. K

enya, Gam

bia, G

hana, Lesotho, Malaw

i, Nam

ibia, South Africa, Tanzania and

Uganda.

In addition, liaison council of JAX

A-JIC

A has been started since

January 2008, and regarding Space Education for developing coun-tries has been com

e up for discussion in the 3rd meeting in February

2011.

In cooperation with the International Space U

niversity (ISU), the

Space Education Center continues to provide scholarships for

Japanese university and graduate students to participate in the Space Studies Program

(SSP), nine-week course held betw

een June and A

ugust by ISU at a different location each year around the globe,

and the degree programs for M

aster of Science in Space Studies and M

aster of Science in Space Managem

ent (MSS/M

SM), one-year

course held at ISU m

ain campus in Strasbourg, France. Starting

from 2008, the C

enter also provides funding support for Japanese university and graduate students to participate in the annual sym

po-sium

organized by ISU in February.

With m

ore than 3,000 alumni w

orldwide and several hundred facul-

ty and lecturers drawn from

around the world, ISU

offers unique program

mes that are international, interdisciplinary and inter-cultur-

al in nature. Based on the M

emorandum

of Understanding conclud-

ed between JA

XA

and ISU in D

ecember 2003, JA

XA

supports activities of ISU

by receiving MSS/M

SM students as interns at

JAX

A research facilities, sending JA

XA

staff as lecturers for SSP and M

SM/M

SM and participating in the B

oard of Trustees of ISU.

E. O

ther collaborations: providing education opportunities outside Japan for graduate students

ISU C

ampus in Illkirsch, France

(Photographs: Courtesy of ISU

)

ISU SSP in 2010

(Photographs: Courtesy of ISU

)

42

Web site of the Space Education Center:

http://edu.jaxa.jp

The Space Education Center uses Internet-based services and publi-

cations as the main tools to dissem

inate information.

As for the Internet-based services, the C

enter provides information

on its activities, including announcements for upcom

ing events, cam

paigns, and reports on the past activities, and distributes update on-line education m

aterials and programm

es. Information and

explanatory notes on various space-related topics are also available through the Space Inform

ation Center, an on-line inform

ation ser-vice that can be accessed through the C

enter’s web site.

The web site of the C

enter (http://ww

w.edu.jaxa/jp) aims to achieve

the following objectives: i) to serve as the focal point to dissem

inate inform

ation on space education activities and to provide a forum for

exchanging ideas and information am

ong educators; ii) to provide education m

aterials, images and pictures that can be easily dow

n-loaded for use by educators in classroom

teaching; iii) to make

available in a most efficient m

anner the teaching and learning mate-

rials developed through the Center’s support to schools as w

ell as reports on the classroom

activities supported by the Center. Its w

eb site continues to be upgraded, and it now

contains movie files and

video clips.

In the past year, the Center focused on the follow

ing strategies: i) to create conducive environm

ent for any school teachers, leaders and instructors of space education activities as w

ell as any individuals interested in space education to com

municate and interact w

ith each other and to exchange ideas and education m

aterials; ii) to actively pursue other m

eans of disseminating inform

ation rather than on-line services; iii) to use m

ovie clips to report on the activities so as to m

ake the users of the web site feel as if they w

ere at the venues of those activities; iv) to reorganize the Space Inform

ation Center to

make it m

ore user-friendly and to make the content easier to under-

stand by the general public.

VII. D

ISSEM

INAT

ION

OF IN

FOR

MAT

ION

AN

D PU

BL

ICAT

ION

S

A. O

bjectives and strategies

43

The Space Education Center continues to upgrade its w

eb site, and the next upgrade is planned for release in next spring 2011. O

ne of the m

ajor achievements in the past year is the establishm

ent of the “Space Education C

omm

unity Site”, in support of those who have

completed the Space Education Leaders Sem

inar as well as those

teachers interested in introducing space materials into their class-

rooms. In addition, the num

ber of astronomy observation cam

paign through w

eb site continues to increase since the first campaign on

Solar eclipse in 2009. The C

enter has continued to issue short journals via Email, or “M

ail M

agazine”, once or twice a m

onth, taking up a space-related topic that m

ay be of interest to young people and disseminating the latest

news on the C

enter’s activities. As of February 2011, 78 issues have

been disseminated since the first issue in June 2006. The num

ber of subscribers m

ore than doubled in the past four years, from about

1,000 to 3166 as of the end February 2011.

As alternative m

eans to Internet-based services, the Center has con-

tinued to issue paper-based publications on a regular basis. The C

enter has continued to distribute news letters called School W

all N

ewspapers, to about 15,000 elem

entary and junior high schools in the country. For “Science for K

ids”, a monthly journal for children,

the Center has continued to contribute articles on its activities. The

fifteenth issue of the quarterly journal, “Sora e no Tobira” (“Door

toward Space” in Japanese), has been issued by M

arch 2011.

Starting from A

pril 2009, the Center significantly increased the fre-

quency of the real-time television broadcasting to provide live cov-

erage of not only the rocket launches but also space education events organized by the C

enter. The Center aim

s to provide such live cover-age through “Space Education TV

Channel” tw

ice a month on aver-

age. From A

pril 2010 to February 2011, 34 programm

es were broad-

casted through the “Space Education TV C

hannel”, attracting the m

aximum

of 99,735 viewers per program

me. A

ll these broadcasted program

mes have been archived and m

ade available on-line.

B. A

chievements

School Wall N

ewspaper

Quarterly m

agazine, “Sora e no Tobira”(“D

oor toward Space”)

Campaign nam

ed “Let's observe a total lunar eclipse!” through W

ebsite

Space Education TV Channel

Campaign nam

ed “I found that the first tw

inkle star (Venus) in the dark morning

sky.” through Website

44

Reaffirming its conviction that the collaborations w

ith all stakeholders w

ould be the key of success in further expanding space education activities at various levels of school education and m

any different places and on occasions, the Center further strengthened its collabora-tions w

ith other offices and departments of JA

XA

, industries and national research institutes w

hile continuing its collaborations with the

non-governmental, non-profit organizations engaged in space educa-

tion activities.

As a result of its increased efforts to collaborate w

ith interested indus-tries, som

e of the courses of the Cosmic College w

ere co-organized w

ith Discovery Channel, D

enshi Kaihatsu G

akuen and The Minam

i-nihon Living Shim

bun Co., Ltd.. In the case of the Discovery Channel,

which broadcasted advertisem

ents of the Cosmic College course, ten

courses has been organized together. With Fam

ily Mart, C

osmic

Colleges w

ere organized during the Space Cam

p programm

e in Tanegashim

a Space Center and Tsukuba Space Center.

In the past year, the Center began to vigorously pursue collabora-

tions with national research institutes, such as Japan A

gency for M

arine-Earth Science and Technology (JA

MST

EC

), National

Astronom

ical Observatory of Japan (N

AO

J) and RIK

EN, to have

their researchers and experts involved in not only co-organizing edu-cational events but also in the developm

ent of programm

e contents and planning for future activities.

Significant progress has been made in the collaborations w

ith pub-lishing com

panies producing textbooks and supplementary learning

materials in the past year. In response to 127 requests from

45 such com

panies, the Center has provided im

ages and data resulting from

space activities and projects of JAX

A for use in the textbooks and

supplementary learning m

aterials for not only science but also other classes, including those for Japanese and English languages, geogra-phy, agriculture and hom

emaking.

To provide a systematic fram

ework of support by leading research-

ers and experts from various disciplinary areas w

ho are comm

itted to space education efforts, the C

enter is establishing Space Education A

dvisory Board. The A

dvisory Board w

ould provide advice on the overall executive directions to be pursued by the

VIII. ST

RAT

EG

IC A

LL

IAN

CE

S AN

D E

STAB

LISH

ME

NT O

F FOO

TH

OL

DS

Collaborations w

ith Family M

art in Tanegashim

a Space Center

Collaborations with D

iscovery Channe

45

Center as w

ell as its major policies concerning the im

plementation

of its programm

es, support for space education leaders and develop-m

ent of educational materials. U

nder this Advisory B

oard, the estab-lishm

ent of two w

orking groups, one on space education materials

and the other on space education activities, is also envisaged.

46

Asteroid Explorer "H

ayabusa" overcame m

any difficulties, and successfully returned to the Earth on June 13, 2010 after a grand journey that lasted seven years.

Hayabusa has m

et and overcome a series of technical glitches, such

as reaction wheels failure, onboard R

CS (R

eaction Control System

) fuel leak accident, com

munication blackout, and Ion engine failures.

Many people have been encouraged by the journey w

hich was a

miraculous achievem

ent made possible by leading-edge technologies,

teamw

ork and excellent ideas among engineers. The m

ission of H

ayabusa was to return sam

ples from asteroid ‘Itokaw

a’ to the Earth w

ith clues that would reveal som

e of the mysteries of the origin of our

solar system. It also im

pressed us with a “never-give-up attitude”.

It has enormous influence on the school scene.

Towards enforcem

ent of the Japanese government's new

teaching guidelines, w

hich are completely revised every 10 years, from

the Japanese fiscal year 2011, JA

XA

has been collaborating with

publishing companies producing national school textbooks and

supplementary learning m

aterials, and providing images and data

resulting from JA

XA space activities for use in the textbooks and

materials not only for science but also other school subjects, such as

Japanese, English, Hom

emaking, A

griculture, and Geography and etc.

JAX

A has actively continued to conduct Space Education Leaders

Seminars for school teachers and volunteer social educators.

We in the C

enter are, of course, aware of the need to increase

children's interest in space-related science and engineering.

By m

aking full use of attractive space materials in Japan and

overseas, we hope to actively prom

ote space education activities in order to spark a bright flam

e in children's hearts and minds for years

to come.

IX. C

ON

CL

UD

ING

RE

MA

RK

S

Japan Aerospace E

xlopration Agency (JA

XA

)Space E

ducation Center

3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagam

ihara, Kanagaw

a, 252-5210, JapanTel: +81-50-3362-7590 Fax:+81-42-759-8612http://edu.jaxa.jp

Photo/Illustrat ion Courtesy

ISS and KIB

O (c) N

ASA

/JAX

A, SR

MS and O

BSS (c) N

ASA

/JAX

A, A

fter Hayabusa Sw

ing-by (c) A

kihiro Ikeshita, Towards A

steroid Itokawa (c) A

kihiro Ikeshita