From the Director

From the Director

Greetings from the Space Education Center!

The Space Education Center is based at JAXA's Sagamihara campus in Kanagawa, Japan. It offers various educational programmes both in-person and online for children and students up to high school.

The main goal of our educational activities is to cultivate passion for space science and scientific investigation. We create opportunities to learn about space and aeronautical science. In Japan, we offer workshops at various places, including museums and community centers, and call for participation in extracurricular activities. We also provide seminars for educators who wish to design and teach classes on their own.

But our activities are not limited to students and teachers in Japan. We believe that space education is important for everyone regardless of where they live. Just as every person on this planet should understand the condition of the Earth, everyone also should be familiar with what exists in that vast region that we refer to as "space". We should not leave anyone behind in the task of space education. We will provide the opportunity to learn about the universe together. Of course, it is not an easy task, but as the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) call for action, we do our best to expand our reach, and facilitate discussions on a range of issues.

Since the summer of 2022, JAXA's Space Education Center offers educational events under a new label, The JAXA Academy. It covers various topics in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), as it aims to create a large community of learners. The seminars invite specialists who can introduce cutting-edge science to all participants who are interested in learning more about the STEAM subjects and recent developments in space science. We are here to provide the vision for the future!

We look forward to learning together with you!

Dr. Kate Kitagawa
Director, Space Education Office, JAXA

Director, JAXA Space Education Center
Dr. Kate Kitagawa
Director, Space Education Office, JAXA

Biography

Kate Kitagawa is Director of the Space Education Office at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). She is passionate about developing STEAM programmes on the theme of space and aeronautical science and is working to enhance the space education all over the world. Her educational background is mathematics, life sciences, and history, and she has worked in diplomacy. She has a doctoral degree from Princeton and taught history courses at Harvard University. She has written six books in Japanese; her debut book in Japanese became a national bestseller in Japan. She has researched the history of mathematics and the history of space exploration at the University of Oxford, the University of Pretoria, and the Science Museum, London, from 2018 to 2022, before moving to JAXA.


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