Page 13 - Journal 2018A

Mike Roach has been a long-time champion of primary and secondary space science (and physics) education. This culminated
last year with the of cial opening of the Mike Roach Space Education Centre at Hamilton Secondary College. For 26 years, Mike has been active in seeking out and sharing space science resources with students and teachers across Australia through organising space camps; writing journal articles; teaching in the classroom and through leading professional development activities. Mike is a life member of SASTA.
We asked Mike for his thoughts about space science education.
At what part of your teaching career did you know you were going to have such a focus on space science?
Space and astronomy are motivating subjects. I remember when I became hooked. During the International Year of Space (1992) an Australian Space Camp for teachers and students was held in Sydney and Canberra.
I applied and, on the strength of that application, was also selected to attend an International Space Camp later that year in the USA. This USA trip was the highlight of my career. We joined teachers and students from 32 countries; heard from internationally famous scientists (including Nobel prize winners) and astronauts; attended a reception to meet the Vice President (Dan Quale) at
the White House; and toured the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
After this trip I continued my involvement with the Australian Space Camp while also being approached to set up a South Australian Space School. Sponsorship and patronage was essential and we were able to get contributions from the Defence, Science &
Technology Organisation and BAE Systems
to run our rst SA Space School in 1997. Last year we celebrated our 21st anniversary and we organised a reunion of graduates following the International Astronautical Congress here in Adelaide.
I’ve since been able to fund activities with grants while contributing my own time.
They grow from one thing into another. For example, I once received a CRA Fellowship grant that helped me begin to frame an entire Space Science course for year 8-10 classes at my school. I then obtained grants to take these activities to teachers and students
to country regions in South Australia and, through the Australian Science Teachers Association, share them with all States and
Territories. I wrote articles for SASTA, ASTA and Victorian Science Journals.
In 1998 a new National Curriculum came
into being for science. There was a large emphasis on space science and astronomy, and apart from personal interests of science teachers, I realised that the great majority of teachers lacked resources and professional development opportunities (always a problem for teachers) in this area. I had seen from the NASA websites that there were 10 Education Centres around the USA, so I applied for a Churchill Fellowship and put together a plan to visit 6 of these over a six week trip.
How important was your Churchill Fellowship?
The Fellowship allowed me to have exclusive access to the Education outreach of cers employed by NASA. Winston Churchill is highly regarded in the USA and I received exceptional treatment and respect for having this award. I returned with many great new resources. Of course, now all of these
Number 01 / 2018
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An interview with Mike Roach