Espacial.com : a cooperative learning model in internet

Espacial.com is the leading and oldest internet site in Spanish language which reports 24 hours a day on space exploration. Moreover it is the only specialized site that has broadcasted live the main space events in the past years with expert comments in Spanish . From its first day, education is the main purpose of the site always with an international and multidisciplinary approach. Fernando Caldeiro, Class 16 NASA Astronaut, is the leading person in the project with his non-stop presence in the forums making valuable comments and answering questions from its young audience. We analyse the ongoing dynamics in the forum, and how a virtual community of space enthusiasts is created. We show that, because of the presence of some key factors (leadership, commitment to excel, motivation, communicative skills, ldots), it is possible to establish a high degree of compromise for learning although in an non-formal way. Cooperative learning is a well-known pedagogical technique which has proven its efficacy in different formal and non-formal areas. Using internet capabilities this technique proves to be an excellent approach to educational outreach on space-related subjects.