Getting into space

Her passion and fascination for space and related studies won an Indian teacher a fellowship for a prestigious US space education programme. Vandana Suryawanshi, who teaches at Vidya Valley School in Pune, is the first international teacher to be selected for the project. She joins 19 other outstanding American educators picked up by the US-based Space Foundation for promoting space and science education.
The Space Foundation supports space activities, space professionals and education. Suryawanshi, 48, has taught biology and earth sciences to students from class VI to VIII for the past 20 years. The teacher had applied for the space fellowship last November with a project proposal with lesson plans for a total of six hours on space-related topics. She prepared a teaching plan for school students on “The effects of atmospheric pressure and gravity on human beings and plants, on earth and in micro gravity”.
Suryawanshi was then sent a list of questions as to how she would go about her lesson plan. She replied to each and every query in a meticulous way, but, she was not sure, if the Space Foundation would accept her proposed project.
Suryawanshi had almost forgotten about it all until last week when the Space Foundation sent her a mail asking for her photograph to be published in their newsletter. When the news of her selection flashed on the website of the Space Foundation, the joy of the humble and hardworking teacher knew no bounds. Soon, she also received an email confirming her selection for the fellowship programme, which was followed by a news release from the Space Foundation. The release said that it was for the first time that an international teacher had been selected for the prestigious fellowship. After the training, these teachers will serve as advocates for space-themed education across the curriculum and will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to further integrate space principles into the classroom.