"Newton in Space" - youngsters from Germany, Ireland and Spain star with ESA astronaut in a film for schools

Information Note N°06-2°°4
Paris, 9 September 2004


"Newton in Space" - youngsters from Germany, Ireland and Spain star with ESA
astronaut in a film for schools



On Friday 10 September some 50 pupils from three countries will join ESA
astronauts and ISS Education Fund Board members for the launch of the
"Newton in Space" DVD, in the Erasmus User Centre at ESTEC in Noordwijk, The
Netherlands.

On this occasion Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque will explain why he
wanted to be involved in the education exercises and how he hopes his
contribution will make a difference for young people. The audience at the
premiere of the 17-minute programme on the DVD will include the young people
who play leading roles in the film. After the showing the three classes from
Germany, Ireland and Spain will explain how they found clever ways of
demonstrating Newton's laws in everyday situations.

"Newton in Space" is the first in a series of educational DVDs ESA is
releasing to demonstrate basic scientific principles in ways children can
relate to. The lessons on Newton's laws were filmed both in space on board
the International Space Station and on Earth. ESA astronaut Pedro Duque
worked with his Russian colleague Alexander Kaleri to perform related
experiments in space, while 48 pupils used skating rinks, swimming pools and
snooker halls as their "test laboratories".

The DVD has been designed for use in the classroom and to encourage group
exercises for students of twelve to eighteen years of age. The lessons on
Newton's laws are available in eleven European languages*. The edition
comes in a handy case also containing a Teacher's Guide, a brief
introduction to the International Space Station (ISS), interdisciplinary
classroom activities, and web and reading references. Exercises from the
Teacher's Guide can of course also be distributed to youngsters as copied
material.

"In offering this entertaining resource we want to help teachers motivate
their classes," says Elena Grifoni, Head of the ISS Education Office, "and
one of the ways we can do this is by using human spaceflight examples. We
hope the pupils will find the DVD fun to watch while learning the essentials
of science". Over 10,000 copies will be distributed to secondary schools in
ESA Member States.

Joining the DVD "stars" on Friday 10 September will be the board members of
the ISS Education Fund, who are coming to ESTEC for their annual meeting.
This Fund has been set up by ESA for external organisations and individuals
to contribute to and aims to encourage more young people in Europe to study
scientific subjects. Fund members include Nobel prizewinners, planetariums,
space-sector companies and the entire ESA astronaut corps.

The "launch event" in the Erasmus User Centre at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The
Netherlands, takes place from 13:00 hrs. to 17:00 hrs.

For more information on the event please contact:
Mrs Elena Grifoni,
ESA, ISS Education Office,
Tel.: + 31 71 565 5539,
Fax : + 31 71 656 44 99,
e-mail:

For more information on the ISS Education Fund, go to www.esa.int/issef

Teachers/schools from ESA Member States can request copies of the DVD via:
www.esa.int/spaceflight/education

* Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Spanish, Swedish and Finnish



--
--------------------------------------

Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info