Brooklands College is about to become the third college in the UK to start offering the Space Engineering Level 3 Course developed by the National Space Academy.
The school joins Loughborough College and Salford City College in providing 16-18 year olds with A-levels in Physics, and Maths and a BTEC Level 3 in Engineering, all taught through context of space.
The National Space Academy was recently invited to Brooklands College to run a teacher CPD session for the tutors who will be delivering the course, providing them with a comprehensive set of resources and skills to engage their students when the course begins in September 2016.
Led by Andy McMurray, Head of Teaching and Learning at the National Space Academy the session included topics such as:
- How to measure the number of galaxies in the universe using the Hubble space telescope and your thumb
- How a real rocket engine works
- How to best represent the structure of space and gravity using a hula hoop
- Space engineering the best air rocket for distance
- How to build the best thermal shield for re-entering the atmosphere
- A ‘Marbel-ous’ activity for working out Kepler’s laws
- Building a real comet for understanding the role comets may have played in bringing water to Earth
Teachers from Brooklands College had previously toured the National Space Centre in Leicester and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to find out about current space topics and the level of growth in the UK space sector.
The CPD was described by the teachers as being ‘fantastic’ with ‘contagious enthusiasm’ for the subject.
Christopher Duff, Regional Project Manager for the National Space Academy in the south of England said: ‘The opportunity for students in the South East to take part in the Space Engineering Course is really exciting, as the UK Space Industry is crying out for more qualified engineers. Having the combination of excellent academic skills and hands on experience will give the students an amazing pipeline into the UK Space Industry’