Outreach
Growing tomorrow's explorers
School
At Spring,
we want to grow a forest on the Moon. Getting there means answering very concrete questions: how do you keep an ecosystem alive in a closed space? How do you carry it, protect it and make it last?
We ask students these same questions. To us, space exploration is not reserved for a handful of specialists: everyone should be able to take part, and it starts in the classroom.
Learning science by doing it
Our school activities rest on a simple belief: science makes more sense when you practise it. Students don't watch an experiment, they design it.
- Real challenges. The problems we give students are the ones our institute is working on: keeping a closed ecosystem alive, preparing a mission, protecting living things.
- The right to fail. Imagine, test, fail, understand why, try again: that is the scientific method, and it is also the best way to learn.
- Teamwork. In our projects, biologists, engineers and artists work side by side. Our activities do the same: every kind of student finds a place.
- A direct link to the curriculum. Our education team includes teachers. Every activity builds on the French curriculum in life and earth sciences, physics and chemistry, technology and general science.
The Rocket Challenge
Design, build, launch. Before sending life to the Moon, you have to get it off the ground. In the rocket challenge, students build their own rocket and launch it to complete a mission. For example: fly as high as possible, or carry a seed and bring it back to the ground intact.
How it works
- The mission. Each team receives a set of specifications, just like a real space agency.
- Design. Students think about stability, shape, mass and propulsion.
- Build. They build their rocket with the materials we provide.
- Launch. Time for the real-world test, with measurements to back it up.
- Debrief. Teams compare their predictions with the results and look for ways to improve their rocket.
What students take away: physics concepts seen in action (forces, energy, motion), a complete experimental process, and the thrill of watching their work take off.
Fête de la science
Every autumn, science opens its doors to everyone. The Fête de la Science is France's national science festival. Spring takes part in schools, with workshops where visitors handle, observe and ask questions.
At our stands:
- Keeping a plant alive in space. What does it need? Light, water, gases, nutrients: visitors discover what it takes for an ecosystem to survive in a closed environment.
- Hands-on experiments. Children and adults get stuck in, guided by our team.
- Meet the people behind the research. Spring scientists and engineers talk about their work and how they got there.
The Fête de la Science is also a great chance for students to switch sides: trained beforehand, they run the workshops themselves and explain science to the public.
Workshops in primary schools
Little hands, living things. With younger children, we start with what grows right under their feet. Our primary school workshops run during class time or as part of after-school activities (NAP), and they always involve getting hands dirty.
- Gardening. Children sow, plant and look after a school garden or a few planters. They learn what a plant needs to grow: the very questions our researchers ask about growing plants on the Moon.
- Composting. Children set up and feed a compost bin, then watch kitchen scraps slowly turn into soil. It is a first, concrete look at how nature recycles matter.
- Making things with plants. Herbariums, plant prints, seed paper: children create with what they have grown and picked, and take their work home.
What children take away: observing change over time, caring for something alive, working as a group, and a first taste of the scientific approach. Every seed planted at school is a small step towards our forest on the Moon.
And more
- Classroom workshops. Over one or two sessions, students build and monitor a small closed ecosystem to understand how matter cycles and how living systems stay in balance.
- Meet our team. Researchers, engineers, science communicators: we come to present our projects and talk about careers in space and life sciences.
- Support for student projects. Science club, class project, competition, the baccalauréat Grand Oral: we help students give their project a space dimension.
- Tailor-made activities. Have an idea? We'll build it with you.
Who is it for?
Our activities are designed for students from primary school to the end of secondary school. Level, length and learning goals are adapted to each class.
With every activity, the teacher gets:
- a session planned together, aligned with their goals and the class curriculum;
- all the materials needed, brought by our team;
- resources to prepare the session and follow up in class;
- a member of the Spring team on hand, at the school or remotely.
Help us plant the next seed. The Spring Institute is a non-profit association, and every workshop, hackathon and rocket launch we run in schools is made possible by the people who stand behind us. Your donation buys seeds, soil and building materials, helps us reach more schools, and keeps our activities open to every class, wherever it is. Whatever the amount, you become a Spring Gardener: part of the community growing life, here on Earth and one day on the Moon.
Bring Spring to your school
Are you a teacher, a head teacher or a science club leader? Would you like to run a hackathon, launch a rocket challenge or prepare the next Fête de la Science?
Let's talk about your project. Together, we'll build the activity that fits your students.
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Let's get connected
Reach out to us!
Contact Information
1 Lavergne, St Christophe les Gorges, 15700 Pleaux hackathon@thespringinstitute.comFollow Us
