Many of the people involved with Cosmos Education first met through participation in an event hosted by the United Nations and the International Space University in July of 1999. This event, the third UN conference on the peaceful uses of outer space - UNISPACE III, brought together talented and energetic people from around the globe. It was here that Kevin Hand, George Whitesides, and Loretta Hidalgo first met Will Marshall, Bojan Pecnik, Virgil Pop, Nicholas Ochanda, Peter Nsombo, Imran Majid, Elchin Babyev, Mark Bentley, Asante Foster, Incigul Polat and Andre Larrisma.
The beginning of the year 2000 started an international tour for Kevin Hand and Cosmos Education (then kSpace). Traveling from the sunny tip of Cape Town, South Africa to the white nights of St. Petersburg, Russia, Kevin visited 24 schools in 11 countries and gave over 36 presentations to thousands of students. Along the way, he stayed with friends he had met through the UN and visited schools in their region. Fifteen of the schools visited were schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Working with the South African Ministry of Education and the South African Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science, and Technology, Kevin identified schools and teachers to visit. Additionally, schools in more remote regions were simply approached in person and asked if they were interested in a free presentation on science and technology. Pictures and addresses of many of the schools, students, and teachers in Africa can been seen here.
To read an anecdotal acount of adventures in education in Africa please follow the link at the bottom of this page. For pictures of schools, students, and teachers in Europe and Russia, please go here. Along with tapping into students' imaginations with the topics of space and the search for life, the presentations and lectures also addressed the need for appropriate technologies and the value and importance of staying in school.
During the year 2000 education expedition, fifteen schools in Africa were visited. During the 2001 Under African Skies expedition Cosmos Education volunteers were able to return to more than a third of the schools visited in 2000.
Our network of schools now tops 50 schools in Africa and as the program grows we hope to continue visiting the same schools while simultaneously adding more to the network.
To learn more about Cosmos Education, and how you can get involved, please visit the following links:
About Us • The Cosmos Team • Advisory Board
The following links are to websites for which Cosmos Education is not responsible:
International Space University
Anecdotal Evidence