In Nigeria, an average Nigerian lives on amount less than $2 (N700) per day and hence cannot afford the huge cost of education; especially Aerospace and STEM education. Hence, this is a problem we designed our project to solve by making education accessible, affordable, cheaper and reachable to an average Nigerian. Around the globe, particularly in developing countries, women and youths lack opportunities to obtain the education that they so desperately need and deserve. Cultural stigmas, religious restrictions, and oppressive laws keep women trapped in desperate poverty and ignorance, unable to obtain the education that might give them hope. History has shown time and again that educating girls provides benefits to the economies of nations. In many cases, changes in cultural attitudes and the legal status of women have resulted in economic benefits that break the cycle of centuries of poverty in just a single generation. The fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are critical to any nation seeking to grow in the 21st century global economy. A robust and democratic economy will require citizens thoroughly equipped to compete in the science and technology fields. STEM-focused education responds to the reality that a nation’s future will be built its capacity for innovation and invention.

 

Our feasibility study showed that majority of our target audience spend most of their time on their mobile phones and laptops using various applications on the go than they do inside a conventional classroom, hence we decided to take our virtual classroom to every home where a phone, laptop and internet facilities exist. Hence, we support our innovation by developing an e-learning innovation center and our official education mobile App.  We believed that once, not long ago, classroom space was considered an essential component for nearly every school and training institutions. You’d fill it with desks, chairs, telephones, a fax machine and photocopier and then people, who’d arrive each day at 7am and leave by 7pm. Most of us still utilise classroom space to some degree, but increasingly its role is shifting from essential to optional extra because the powerful mobile devices, the cloud and social collaboration tools are enabling staff and teachers/educators to step outside the traditional confines of classroom and chalkboard. If colleagues need us, we can chat, share information and collaborate seamlessly, wherever we happen to be. This freedom gives education greater agility and offers staff a work-life balance that is no longer a nice perk but instead a given. Hence, the need for our e-learning innovation center and official mobile  App for Android, IPhones and Window Users.

 

Our Online programmes were designed especially the youths and women; currently we have several projects on-going. Our mission is to stimulate a lasting interest in the STEM disciplines, with the goal of encouraging students to pursue careers in these fields.  This is accomplished by actively involving students in the support of authentic research currently being conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) or in a NASA ground-based laboratory. This will inspire young generation in developing nations and underserved group in developed nations around the world to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); for the future will be built on people’s capacity to innovate, invent, and solve problems creatively. Through collaboration with NASA and NASA sponsored researchers, we create an educational mini-curriculum for the high school or middle school classroom that engages students as research assistants, providing data for the Principal Investigator, (PI).  

 

Aerospace Palace Academy, Nigeria obtained the Affiliate membership status of the "European Alliance for Innovation" in order to foster excellence in research and innovation on the principles of transparency, objectivity, equality, and openness. Our guiding principle is community cooperation to create better research, provide fair recognition of excellence and transform best ideas into commercial value proposition. Also to create an environment that rewards excellence transparently, and builds recognition objectively regardless of age, economic status or country of origin, where no membership fees or closed door committees stand in the way of your research career. Through these shared values, we lead the way toward advancing the world of research and innovation, empowering individuals and institutions for the good of society to fully benefit from the digital revolution.

​

Our AIAA approved curriculum was designed taking the following competitive advantages and our unique selling point into consideration:

1. EXCELLENT FEATURES:  We have incorporated excellent features into our curriculum to make it user-friendly.

2. LOW COST: A simple yet powerful Enterprise Solution at a small business price.

3. ANYWHERE, ANYTIME (+ANYONE): Access next generation Web Application from any Internet Browser.

4. WORLDWIDE SUPPORT: World class 24/7/365 LIVE support with worldwide experts

5. TRUSTED WORLDWIDE: Thousands of organizations, corporate, educational, government worldwide will adopt our project.

6. ACCREDITATION: Our certification and accreditation by International Youth Federation, UK and the International women of Aviation, USA speaks volume about our projects in Nigeria, Uganda and across the world.

 

Our mission is to stimulate a lasting interest in the STEM disciplines, with the goal of encouraging students to pursue careers in these fields.  This is accomplished by actively involving students in the support of authentic research currently being conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) or in a NASA ground-based laboratory. This will inspire young generation in developing nations and underserved group in developed nations around the world to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); for the future will be built on people’s capacity to innovate, invent, and solve problems creatively.

 

Through collaboration with NASA and NASA sponsored researchers, we create an educational mini-curriculum for the high school or middle school classroom that engages students as research assistants, providing data for the Principal Investigator, (PI).  Currently, we have a collaborative relationship with several NASA or NASA supported researchers.  The program is delivered and managed via our website; each teacher being assigned a password protected page for management and program delivery.

 

During our mission students briefly learn about the scientist and their research, participate in classroom experiments or activity that mirrors the research experiment on the ISS, and then do some type of an analysis and data gathering activity.   These hands-on inquiry-based activities are supported by near-real time digital and video images downlinked from orbit and provided to the classroom via our website. Also provided are real time images of a control ground experiment being conducted by BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA Research Partnership at the University of Colorado or elsewhere.

 

Student research supports the work of the PI, while meeting the educational goals of the classroom and final student data is provided to the PI for review and, if appropriate, inclusion into research databanks.

 

Our missions typically require between three and seven classroom periods and could involve:

1.   Introduction of NASA and its mission

2.   Introduction of PI and research focus

3.   Instruction on download and use of any required software

4.   Conducting the research (the heart of the mission) which may include:

1. Hypothesis development

2. Classroom lab activity mirroring the actual research

3. Observation and photo/video analysis

4. Data recording and submission

5. Formulate conclusions

6. Evaluation

​

FORMAT OF THE LESSONS

(https://skillscenter.co.ug/course/index.php?categoryid=25)

In conjunction with our partners, we have developed an American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (USA) and Space Foundation (USA) approved curriculum covering over 65 lessons. The mini-curriculum for schools and colleges consists of 65 courses and subdivided in 13 course-packs for easy accessibility. At the end of the pack, we have 10 selected multiple choice questions with 2 each from the 5 topics.

​

We have designed the course to be offered at a token of just $1USD in order for majority of the youths from various backgrounds to have access to a cheaper and affordable STEM education believing that Democracy hinges on the broadest possible dissemination of quality scientific education and has created an interface where STEM students and teachers can improve a failed education system through self-organization.

 

Once a course is purchased, access is granted to the student immediately via a carefully chosen username and password. (https://skillscenter.co.ug/course/index.php?categoryid=25).

​

LESSON PACK 1:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 1 -- The Earth's Hemispheres

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 2 -- Orbital Debris

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 3 -- Living In Space

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 4 -- Large Numbers

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 5 -- Observing the Moon

 

LESSON PACK 2:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 6 -- Up, up, and Away in my Beautiful Balloon

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 7 -- How Long is a Day

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 8 -- Orbital Dynamics

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 9 -- Transit of Mercury

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 10 -- Jackie Cochran

 

LESSON PACK 3:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 11 -- Gemini VIII

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 12 – Airspeed

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 13 -- Asteroids and Dinosaurs

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 14 -- Spinning Ball of Water in Space

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 15 -- Metric Units of Measurement

 

LESSON PACK 4:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 16 -- How do Airplanes Fly

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 17 -- Parallax and the Size of the Solar System

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 18 -- Hedgehog Robot

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 19 -- The Mariner Project

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 20 -- How Long Is A Year

 

LESSON PACK 5:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 21 -- Images from Space

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 22 -- The Magnus Effect

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 23 -- The Rosetta Mission

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 24 -- Measuring the Size of the Universe

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 25 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

LESSON PACK 6:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 26 -- Spot the Space Station

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 27 -- How High Is It

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 28 -- Everyday Drones

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 29 -- Divisibility Rules

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 30 -- Earth's Temporary Moons

 

LESSON PACK 7:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 31 -- Ride a Sounding Rocket (NGSS)

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 32 -- Earth's Weather

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 33 -- Navigating the Skies

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 34 -- Pi Day (002)

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 35 -- Hanny's Voorwerp

 

LESSON PACK 8:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 36 -- International Day of Human Space Flight

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 37 -- Aerial Refueling

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 38 -- Sensing Weather from a Distance

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 39 -- Crossing the Atlantic by Air

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 40 -- Solar Eclipse

 

LESSON PACK 9:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 41 -- Hoaxes and Bad Science

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 42 -- The International Geophysical Year

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 43 -- Vapor Trails

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 44 -- Rocket Science 101

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 45 -- Voyager Missions

 

LESSON PACK 10:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 46 -- Atmospheric Pressure

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 47 -- Sputnik 1

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 48 -- Regular Geometric Figures

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 49 -- Prevailing Winds

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 50 -- Length of a Day on Different Planets

 

LESSON PACK 11:

1. Aerospace Micro-lesson 51 -- Liquids in Microgravity

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 52 -- The Wright Brothers

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 53 – Calendars

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 54 -- Make Your Own Telescope

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 55 -- Wingtip Vortices

 

LESSON PACK 12:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 56-- Rocket Science II Guidance and Stability

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 57 – Clouds

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 58 -- Equinoxes and Solstices

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 59 -- Aviation Oddities (1)

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 60 – Polyominoes

 

LESSON PACK 13:

1. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 61 -- Star Wars

2. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 62 -- SR-71

3. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 63 -- Weather Patterns in the Solar System

4. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 64 -- Asteroid Day

5. Aerospace Micro-Lesson 65 – Neil Armstrong

​

This programme will take several class periods of between 1-5 hours per day and we are also adopting online lectures format in order to be able to reach out to those who might not have time to attend the classroom lectures.