Guidance for the Vivalys project
For 4 years, the Vivalys school based in Ecublens, Switzerland, has decided to integrate projects to give purpose to learning. And what motivates more children than the idea to become astronauts for a few days? Galactic Studios has been supporting this project through consultancy, workshop design in systems engineering, team building or space technology. By working closely with the teachers and educational advisors, each year, the children were able to successfully accomplish their space mission, be it to simulate Mars, Titan, or an asteroid.
A new way of learning and motivating students
With the first edition of this mission, a scientific paper was done showing the educational impact of such a project. Published in the Acta Astronautica journal, this paper illustrates the use of space analog missions as an educational tool in primary schools. The findings allowed to continue such missions.
The scientific methodology for the youngest
Besides inspiring children, this support has also the goal to teach them tools and critical thinking that will be useful to them for the rest of their lives. Defending their projects to a board of experts assembled by Galactic Studios, among them Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, the class needs to convince their audience that they are capable of accomplishing such a mission in autonomy.
