The son of Buzz Aldrin, who was famously the second person to set foot on the moon in 1969, has taken his space programme into a Sunderland primary school with the help of the University of Sunderland.
The Aldrin Family Foundation, led by Dr Andrew Aldrin, has teamed up with the university to inspire schoolchildren to become interested in space science and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
The Giant Mars and Moon Maps Programme sees the University’s pre-16 outreach team and trainee teachers from the university’s School of Education use giant interactive floor maps to bring the boundless possibilities of space and space exploration to life for pupils in the Sunderland area and beyond.
The project debuted at Academy 360 in Sunderland, where more than 40 Year 5 pupils took part in a number of activities using the giant maps to learn about the challenges and opportunities presented by space. They also got the chance to navigate a MyBot Rover robot across the surface of Mars on a special mission.
Aldrin Family Foundation chief innovation officer Jim Christensen, a former director of education at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, delivered the session. He said: “Aldrin Family Foundation has a goal of inspiring students in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, and the project we’re doing with Sunderland so fits with what it is that we believe in – and now we find out it’s really what Sunderland believes in as well.”
Aldrin added: “When I get to work with trainee teachers I get very excited because I know our next generation is in good hands. We’ve got a lot of really great people that want to be teachers and I like to have my opportunity to mould and encourage them and give them the benefit of some of the experiences I have.”
Sunderland is the first UK university to partner with the Aldrin Family Foundation to help educate and inspire the next generation to take on the challenges and opportunities of space.
