Concluding the pilot programme

School kids in the wider Grenoble area were participating in the SPACE Consortium pilot programme.

After heading to Hungary and northern Italy, the last stop for the SpaceBuzz before coming back to the Netherlands was Grenoble and surroundings. Over the course of one week, more than 700 school kids and their teachers from schools in Le-Point-de-Claix, Échirolles, Jarrie and Saint-Martin-d’Hères experienced their first VR-flight and the overview effect.

The SpaceBuzz crossing the French border in the Alps.

As with every stop, we welcomed the school children by holding up the inflatable globe as long as possible… and as with every stop, the children had loads of fun doing it!

Everybody was excited — school kids and teachers alike.

School kids and their teachers having fun in front of the rocket.

By sitting in small groups with the school kids, the teachers of the participating schools found ways to help the students describe what felt during their spaceflight. They used prepared cards to help the students find the right words to describe their feelings during their experience.

A teacher discussing the experience with the school kids after the spaceflight.

At the end of their experience, the school kids were also invited to write down their feelings, thoughts and experiences in a space diary. The messages are so lovely and inspiring!

The school kids wrote down their thoughts in this space diary.

After 4 weeks on tour, the SpaceBuzz then returned to the Netherlands, where the pilot programme had the final stop. Now it’s back to the drawing board for the international team to evaluate, revise and improve. We will keep you updated here!

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The SPACE Consortium is a transnational collaboration of education professionals from France, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands and is co-funded by the European Union.