One Giant leap Australia Foundation (OGL) is partnering with Assumption Convent School in South Africa to deliver a Space Camp this week. OGL Managing Director, Jackie Carpenter, is in South Africa to bring her STEM education expertise to the event.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for international collaboration and engagement with diverse perspectives within the context of the space industry”, said Ms Carpenter. “We will be working with 60 teachers and 50 students, so it’s going to be such a wonderful exchange of ideas, activities and professional development”.
Ten years of preparation has led to this event in which students will learn about all things space and STEM, such as the Psyche Asteroid Activity. Psyche is both the name of an asteroid orbiting the Sun (between Mars and Jupiter) and the name of a NASA space mission to visit that asteroid, led by Arizona State University. The mission was chosen by NASA for the agency’s Discovery Program. Students will learn about design, construction and landing of the spacecraft.
Canadian STEM and Space Educator and CEO of “Science Yourself No G’s About It”, Dianea Carroll Phillips, will be joining Jackie in South Africa. Dianea is a former teacher and consultant with Lester B. Pearson School Board (Montreal) and the Kativik School Board located in Nunavik. She has provided more than 30 years of presentations and workshops at JSCH (Johnson Space Center Houston) and has trained over 40,000 educators during her career.
“I believe that we are on this planet to make people constellations”, said Ms Phillips. “The way to do this is to make space accessible to everyone, inspire youth around the globe to be curious, and teach them to reach between the mystical cobwebs in the sky together so they may explore the universe collaboratively.”
The event will also include a visit to the South African Space Agency. “It is so important to connect with international space agencies as collaboration is vital to human space exploration”, said Jackie Carpenter. “Collaboration and communication are key skills for any discipline in the space sector”.