Cornwall and Oxfordshire host spring CPDs

To best highlight the work of the National Space Academy, lead educators were invited to run CPD workshops in two locations during March. The first was as part of the Prince's Teaching Institute CPD Subject Days and the second was a showcase for teachers in Cornwall hosted at the Goonhilly Earth Station.

Andy McMurray Head of Teaching and Learning was invited to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to run an inspirational space workshop for teachers who had travelled from as far as London to the Oxfordshire countryside.

Andy provided the Key Stage 4 teachers with space themed physics practicals and demonstrations designed to enrich the curriculum as well as answer their questions and concerns about taking Space contexts, such as Astronaut Tim Peake, into the classroom.

The Prince's Teaching Institute is one of the charitable organisations of The Prince's Charities.
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Mike Grocott, Lead Educator for the National Space Academy along with Regional Programme Manager Christopher Duff led a teacher showcase at the Goonhilly facility.

Teachers from around Cornwall and the south west were given a broad overview of demonstrations and practicals which they can take into the classroom. Mike demonstrated scaling the distance from the Earth to the Moon as well as how to build a comet using ingredients including dry ice.

A particular favourite was the woosh bottle, filmed by teacher Emma Hugo from Lanivet Community Primary School as seen on the National Space Academy Twitter feed: 

For the full demonstration; see the National Space Academy resources.

The teachers and the National Space Academy were also treated to a tour of the Goonhilly facility.

The Goonhilly Earth Station is located in the Goonhilly downs, on the Lizard Peninsula. It is a Satellite communication and deep space radio astronomy centre and is known for receiving the first ever trans-Atlantic satellite TV images, broadcast by Telstar, on 11 July 1962.

Image1: Mike Grocott demonstrating the scale of the Earth Moon system

Image 2: Andy McMurray demonstrating how to build a comet, with a Rosetta selfie