Group practices can be a great entry-point to bringing a gender-balanced approach to your classroom. Make use of students’ abilities by promoting collaborative group work and try to frame classroom activities in real world and interdisciplinary contexts. Incorporate holistic investigation tasks and projects, and place responsibility for thinking and learning on themselves.

Most important is that you do not have girls and boys competing against each other.  

Last, use hands-on methodologies and ensure equal access to material resources. You can arrange tasks so that both girls and boys manipulate STEM equipment (like science lab equipment, calculators or computers) in an equal way. 

Avoid using materials that reinforce stereotyped roles (including not only books but also drawings, pictures or accompanying texts). Stereotyped roles can refer to different things (including traditionally gendered roles (e.g., girls are nurses, boys are mechanics) or assigning productive and active roles to males and relegating passive and supportive roles to females. 

In general, materials used in the classroom should mirror our current plural society. For that, the number of female achievers in texts as well as in the examples cited in class should be increased, as they tend not to be representative of today’s society. (UNESCO, 2015)
 

In the video below, you will meet Australian Bureau of Meteorology employee Clare Yeo who talks about how she became a Meteorologist.
Hydrologists are scientists, engineers, or professionals who observe, monitor, model and forecast trends in the water cycle and in the water supply. Hydrologists play a vital role by studying the water cycle – the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth – and its impact on the distribution and supply of water. They are able to assess the quantity and quality of water resources available for meeting the needs of society (for example, in agriculture). 

This lesson is a part of a bigger set of activities, “Activities For Conceptualizing Climate And Climate Change”, which you can find on the website of The Purdue Climate Change Research Center (PCCRC), which facilitates interdisciplinary climate change research and education. From its inception in 2004, the PCCRC assembled a community of scholars who shared the perspective that human and natural systems should be studied as an integrated whole.

Nonetheless, in this MOOC, at the beginning of each module, we will offer an OPTIONAL brief introduction to the subject matter and then focus mostly on the pedagogical application of it. 

If you are interested in reading up on the composition and structure of the Earth, the seasons, exoplanets and habitability then you can do so in this document. You will also find relevant Space Awareness teaching resources throughout the text, so we encourage you to have a look and explore the multitude of activities you can perform in class! 

A gender sensitive education should start at a very early stage as early socialization plays a huge role in kids’ mindsets. In the video “Inspiring the next generation of female engineers”, Debbie Sterling (founder and CEO of GoldieBlox, a toy company that produces construction toys for girls) explains how one of her motives to create the company was her realization -after failing at an 3D drawing assessment in an engineering drawing class- that kids who scored better at spatial skills were those who grow up playing with construction toys. Seeing as those toys were usually marketed to boys, she decided to start designing construction games designed at girls so they could get inspired to pursue engineering careers too

Establishing a healthy, gender bias free environment in the class will help you become more capable of handling issues regarding gender differences. For that, it is very important to guarantee equal and fair student participation. This can be ensured by rotating “who answers, how often, and when”, making sure that students from both genders contribute equally.

It is also essential to provide enough wait-time after asking students a question. This will allow everybody enough time to think. A step further could also be the teacher stopping any students from raising their hands until requested to do so. 

You have probably asked yourself “Are we alone in the Universe?” at some point. And who hasn't? But some people have brought this question to a professional level! In this section, we would like to present to you some space careers whose main goal is to study the possibility of life beyond Earth.

In the video below, you will learn what astrobiology is and how planetary scientists and astrobiologists are looking for signs of life in other planets, using our very own Earth as laboratory.

You have learned from the video that astrobiologists try to understand how life originates and how it can survive and exist in many different types of environments. This often involves the study of extreme life right here, on Earth. Astrobiologists study different planets and moons to see if conditions there might support life whereas others are involved in projects that aim at searching for radio signals from intelligent life in the Universe (this side of the profession was brilliantly demonstrated in the movie “Contact”), while others look for places where the simplest forms of life may exist.

An astrobiologist is usually an expert in biology as well as in astronomy. Here is an article prepared by Space Awareness which you can use to inform your students about this space career!

To demonstrate a real-life role model of an astrobiologist in your classroom, we recommend you to use one of the following videos in your class. We interviewed two specialists in the field of astrobiology - Karen Olsson-Francis and Zita Martins. They both shared their stories, career path and challenges on the way, and their thoughts on how they see themselves in the near future.

We start with presenting a didactic course on the topic of Terraforming, for primary school children. This course was created by Mihaela Balint, teacher at Discovery Kids Primary School, Ramnicu Valcea, Romania.

The activity deals with both extra-terrestrial worlds and our home planet, Earth. By educating children about the life-essential conditions and life forms here on Earth and comparing them with those of other worlds, they learn that this is the only place in the universe that is suitable for life as we know it, up until now. This will promote respect for the environment and a sense of a global community. The students have the opportunity to review the habitats and the life forms adapted to a specific habitat. 

You can download the didactic course from the Space Awareness website HERE.

Watch also Mihaela’s story about how she prepared it and some key insights she shares to other teachers who would like to apply it in their classoom!

The featured Citizen Science project in Module 3, for discussing with your students about weather and climate change, is the GeoTag-X Pilot Project with which you can recognise important information from a photograph and create datasets that could become essential tools for predicting disasters. Scientists want to know if Geo-Tag-X can be a useful tool in case of disasters. Therefore, they have set up a series of pilot projects covering different related disaster events, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes as well as slow-moving events such as drought, climate change and pollution. The analysis can cover topics as diverse as environmental conditions, health, agriculture, and engineering.

GeoTag-X is a research project that asks you to recognise the important information in a photo and create relevant, structured datasets. There are two ways to contribute. The main way is answering specific questions about images. One other way is finding photos for active projects. Without photos, the applications on this website will not give much information. To help you do this an add-on for Firefox is available and allows you to send photos directly to the server while you are browsing the web.

One great way to teach your students about weather and climate change is through games. They are interactive and one of the fastest ways to get the information across to children.

We present here just one example (out of many) on disaster prevention, for students between 9-16 years old. This disaster simulation game from the UN/ISDR (United Nations/International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) allows you to teach “children how to build safer villages and cities against disasters. Children will learn playing how the location and the construction materials of houses can make a difference when disasters strike and how early warning systems, evacuation plans and education can save lives. Children are the future architects, mayors, doctors, and parents of the world of tomorrow, if they know what to do to reduce the impact of disasters; they will create a safer world.” I

This game is “a participatory activity to support experiential learning and dialogue on the differential vulnerability of women and men facing climate variability and change. Players first take on the role of subsistence farmers facing changing risks -- then ‘walk in the shoes’ of a specific gender role. Experiencing the consequences of individual and collective decisions, rich discussions emerge, as do winners and losers.”

One of job related to climate field is a scientist who does measurements of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide and analyses the three-dimensional distribution of gases and particles. Information extracted from these measurements is important for understanding what happens to emissions from automobiles, industry, and natural sources. A person who chooses this specific career should not afraid of height since the job requires to climb tall (up to 300 m!) towers. With this job, stunning view is guaranteed!

Learn what it takes to track greenhouse gases in the following article.

Climatologists are atmospheric or earth scientists who study the Earth's climate, weather patterns over long period of time. “They collect and analyse data from sources such as ice cores, soil, water, air, and even plant life to find patterns in weather and learn how those patterns affect the Earth and its inhabitants. Research might be used for agricultural planning, building design, and weather forecasting. Some climatologists study climates of the past.” (Source)

There are lots of actions taken around the world to draw attention to change of climate.

We would like to inform you about the initiative called Climathon, which is a global 24-hour climate change hackathon. It will take place simultaneously in major cities around the world on 27 October 2017. Climathon attracts innovators, entrepreneurs, students and professionals to create innovative solutions to cities climate challenges.
Climathon Overview:

By 2017, which is the third year of initiative’s operation, the Climathon movement has grown tremendously, encouraging more innovators across the globe to drive climate action. Climathon 2016 took place in 59 cities across 6 continents, creating over 2,330 ideas and reaching 16.8 million people worldwide.

Climate-KIC - Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate change - provides support to the host organisations with a website for each Climathon city, logistics guidance, marketing and communication packages, and regular support calls. Excellent coverage is guaranteed through tweets and articles of the event.

In this activity, students will be able to learn about the main cause of climate change, the Greenhouse effect, and how it impacts our Earth. To do so, they will test a series of hypotheses using an experimental activity. This course is ideal for primary school and lower secondary students (6-10 years old but can be adapted for students up until 13 years old).

You can download the didactic course from the Space Awareness website HERE.

Watch also Cornelia's story about how she did the lesson with her students and some key insights she shares with other teachers who would like to apply it in their classoom

Visualisation tools and apps for students

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides two extra tools we would like to feature. The first one, Climate from Space, is a visualization tool available as an app. This tool “lets you take a closer look at visualisations of climate data being produced through the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme. In the data viewer, see the changes through time of sea surface temperature, the ice sheets, sea level, sea ice, carbon dioxide, soil moisture and many more ». You can see the full information and how to access the app, here. 

Another good resource is the ESA Earth online website where you can access information about all of ESA’s Earth monitoring activities including earth-observing data. 
 

When a brand new and shiny weather monitoring satellite is launched, it is filled with the top-notch equipment and newest gadgets. In order to help weather researchers and forecasters to understand all of the things that new weather satellites can do, satellite liaison comes in. Find out more about this career in this article. 

Our planet is wrapped in a metal shield made up of thousands of orbiting satellites. Each satellite has its own important job, from beaming phone calls across to the world to predicting the weather. But one is particularly special – the International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made satellite and it’s the only satellite that people can live and, what is most important, work on!Astronauts perform many functions while staying on orbit. One of the astronauts’ function is to observe the Earth and take numerous photos of our planet’s land surface, oceans, and atmosphere. "The astronauts' photos of Earth are visually stunning, but more than that, they can be used to study our changing Earth," says Dr. Gay, the Director of Technology and Citizen Science at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (Source). The images taken by astronauts is a documentation of what is happening on Earth at this moment. From erupting volcanoes to seasonal flooding, the gradual changes that happen to our landscape are displayed in the ISS photo archive – a database of 1 890 908 images and counting! Another important role of an astronaut is to monitor both natural and human-made disasters and alert people on Earth about it. Here is how astronauts learn that there is a volcano eruption or another catastrophe like an earthquake, a flood, a fire, a hurricane, or a piping accident.

“Observing Earth from far above, ESA astronaut André Kuipers is acting as a world ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund.” We hope that this video message will inspire you and your students and raise awareness about astronauts’ work on ISS and on the ground.

In this activity children will design a spacesuit – a special set of clothes wearable out of space, suitable for space conditions, which provides safety conditions for astronauts’ activity. Students will face different questions about which properties the suit will need, in order to find the best design. You can access the activity HERE.

We start with watching this brief interview of Mihaela discussing about the activity was built and some of her reflections on it